4 Matching Annotations
  1. Oct 2017
    1. Encouraged therefore by the sentiments of the Legislature, manifested in this statute, we present the following tabular statement of the branches of learning which we think should be taught in the University, forming them into groups, each of which are within the powers of a single professor. I Languages Antient Latin V Physics or Natural Philosophy Greek Chemistry Hebrew Mineralogy II Languages Modern French VI Botany Spanish Zoology Italian VII Anatomy German Medicine Anglo-Saxon VIII Government III Mathematics Pure Algebra Political economy Fluxions Law of Nature & Nations Geometry elemental History (being interwoven with Politics & Law[)] Transcendental IX Law Municipal Architecture X Ideology Military General grammar Naval Ethics IV Physics-Mathematics Mechanics Rhetoric Statics Belle Lettres & the fine arts Dynamics Pneumatics Acoustics Optics Astronomy Geography * * Some of the terms used in this table being subject to a difference of acceptation, it is proper to define the meaning and comprehension intended to be given them here.

      It is very interesting to see that many of valuable subjects to learn at the time are still very important today. In modern times the methods of how these subjects are taught are more complex in the sense that multiple professors contribute to the teaching of a particular subject. Also in today's times there may be different courses under a key subject that focus on different aspects. The learning system that was in place at the start of the university seems to be ore structured , while today it is more flexible.

  2. Sep 2017
    1. Medicine, when fully taught, is usually subdivided into several professorships, but this cannot well be without the accessory of an hospital, where the student can have the benefit of attending clinical lectures & of assisting at operations of surgery. With this accessory, the seat of our university is not yet prepared, either by its population, or by the numbers of poor, who would leave their own houses, and accept of the charities of an hospital.

      This passage foreshadows that eventually the University will further progress their medicine program but at this time and place do not have the resources to do so because they don't have a hospital in which students can study and gain clinical experience. I think it is very interesting in just 200 years since the beginning of the University how much the medicine program has flourished with the building of the UVA hospital, which is the number one hospital in the state of Virginia. Starting out, the medicine program only taught so many classes and now the medical program is thriving and attracts many different, diverse people from every walk of life. Now, I would like to focus on the second sentence specifically because I find it quite engaging and interesting that the authors of the Rockfish Gap Report thought that a hospital would attract numbers of poor because they would leave their own houses to accept the charities of a hospital. I feel many people, especially older generations, still have this belief that people in poverty take advantage of the charities of a hospital. I for one know that it happens at times because I've seen it happen before firsthand working and shadowing in an emergency room, but honestly it's not that people are taking advantage of the charities of a hospital as they state here, but instead a lot of people in poverty don't have good health, and don't have good healthcare insurance, so their only way to get good health care is by going to an emergency room at a hospital. I for one am a huge advocate for providing good health care for people in poverty because I believe a lot stems from having good healthcare. If you're healthy, you have chance to make your life better by looking for a job and making a living, but if your'e sick, like a lot of people in poverty are it's hard to do that, which is why so many people in poverty flock to places like emergency rooms when they are sick and not healthy. I think that the same thing would have happened had there been a hospital open in the community at the time the University opened. Poor people would have gone to the hospital and accepted the charities of it, but not because they were taking advantage, they would have gone because it's their only means of getting good healthcare. -Emily McClung

    2. This doctrine is the genuine fruit of the alliance between church and State,

      I think it is interesting how this sentence describes that the Rockfish Gap Report is "is the genuine fruit in the alliance between church and State" because explicitly in the report the writers state that they won't offer any divinity classes at the University as it is starting out, and I think that this sentence is a contradiction of that statement. The University was built with a library ( the Rotunda) at the heart of it because they wanted to dissociate away from religion, and put knowledge first. So why then, can the Rockfish Gap Report be the genuine fruit in the alliance between church and State, when the vision when opening this University was to put knowledge at the center, and not church and religion? Therefore, in theory if knowledge was supposed to be at the center, I'm interested as to why there is such a glaring contradictory sentence. I think this contradictory shows that the writers of the Rockfish Gap Report had varying beliefs and that came across in the report. To relate, this back to my course that I'm taking called making the Invisible Visible, I think this sentence makes "visible" the invisible varying beliefs of the writers of the Rockfish Gap Report. -Emily McClung

    3. The objects of this primary education determine its character & limits. These objects would be, To give to every citizen the information he needs for the transaction of his own business. To enable him to calculate for himself, and to express & preserve his ideas, his contracts & accounts in writing. To improve by reading, his morals and faculties. To understand his duties to his neighbours, & country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided to him by either.

      I think it is interesting that the author describes the type of education the University of Virginia strives to teach. Primary education is the foundation of knowledge that one needs to be able to grow intellectually and learn about the real-world. In society, the level and quality of education one receives is of utmost importance, especially in the United States, as it guides people's actions and shapes their outlook on life.