It is fascinating to see how much college expectations have changed over the last two centuries. Originally only white adolescents were sent off to get a college degree; however, now both genders, young adults, and minorities are receiving higher-level education.

In my current engagement about evolution, we learned not only about biological changes but also cultural ones. The change from only one specific group to a diverse group of students has two historical components. The first being the amount of females being enrolled. Since the majority of men were fighting overseas during WWII, women were needed to enter the workforce. Afterwards, they wanted to remain working. Because of this, more women began seeking better professions and getting a college degree would be the easiest way. As a result, females have surpassed total male enrollment. Secondly, with more immigrants coming into the United States, more talented and innovative individuals were coming in and those traits allowed them to get acceptance to universities; however, it wasn't until the Civil Rights movement had permitted African-Americans the right to equal schooling, that other minorities were able to attend. Since then, the percentage of minority students has increased substantially. With these two cultural changes, the shift from white adolescents was able to occur. Knowing this, I wonder if Thomas Jefferson and the other writers ever envisioned this societal change?

I found it interesting that Thomas Jefferson saw the value in learning Spanish early on. It is significant to highlight that as President a decade before he had acquired the Midwest through the Louisiana Purchase. This territory included parts of what is now considered Texas. With this new land, it would have made sense to begin placing a large emphasis on Spanish in order to have the ability to communicate effectively with the newly found Mexican State. In addition, since more settlers began to move out west, the need to speak Spanish would have been more prominent; consequently, we see the importance of learning Spanish during the Gadsden purchase. Where we were able to get parts of what is now Arizona and New Mexico while Mexico was able to get money to fund their army, https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/gadsden-purchase .

Although It is surprising that the framers presumed fifteen year olds would have the capacity to be a student of this university, it has some sense given their educational beliefs. As they mentioned earlier in the text, "Education, in like manner engrafts a new man on the native stock, & improves what in his nature was vicious & perverse, into qualities of virtue and social worth."Since education would provide a more profound and virtuous individual, having someone younger with various flaws would be ideal to buttress this claim. In http://uvamagazine.org/articles/bad_boys they note that the early years of the University of Virginia was met with chaos; however, the students soon found themselves attempting to change their immoral ways.