- Nov 2017
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engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu
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The best mode of government for youth in large collections, is certainly a desideratum not yet attained with us. It may well be questioned whether fear, after a certain age, is the motive to which we should have ordinary recourse. The human character is susceptible of other incitements to correct conduct, more worthy of employ, and of better effect.
This idea that fear cannot effectively regulate behavior after a certain time is founded on basic social psychological principles. There is a concept of internal versus external justification. With an external justification, such as fear, one does something only because they know they have to, which leads to only a temporary change. Internal justifications, such as belief in a system of governance or code of ethics, leads to a permanent change because one does it because they believe it is right.
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The considerations which have governed the specification of languages to be taught by the professor of Modern Languages were that the French is the language of general intercourse among nations, and as a depository of human Science is unsurpassed by any other language living or dead:
Thomas Jefferson had an appreciation for French language, as can be seen in his words to Dugald Stewart, "the French language is unquestionably an important object of education." Jefferson had been in France during the first portion of the French Revolution and when serving as U.S. Secretary of State became the leader of the pro-French Democratic-Republican Party. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/french-rev https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/french-language
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- Sep 2017
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engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu
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[4 August 1818]
By January 1819, the General Assembly formally approves Central College in Charlottesville as the site for the UVA. The Board of Visitors also meets for the first time and Thomas Jefferson is appointed Rector of the University of Virginia.
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that of proposing a plan for its buildings; and they are of opinion that it should consist of distinct houses or pavilions, arranged at proper distances on each side of a lawn of a proper breadth, & of indefinite extent in one direction at least, in each of which should be a lecturing room with from two to four apartments for the accommodation of a professor and his family: that these pavilions should be united by a range of Dormitories, sufficient each for the accommodation of two students only, this provision being deemed advantageous to morals, to order, & to uninterrupted study;
The proximity of the pavilions to the dorms was to encourage the establishment of a "living-learning community," as Jefferson envisioned. He wanted to promote purposeful collaboration and encourage a working relationship between professors and students. Each pavilion was meant to house a specific discipline and the the professor for that discipline was meant to live in the upper level of the pavilion where that class was located. Now, only one pavilion is used as a classroom. https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/establishment-university-virginia
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