3 Matching Annotations
  1. Nov 2017
    1. What, but education, has advanced us beyond the condition of our indigenous neighbours? and what chains them to their present state of barbarism & wretchedness, but a besotted veneration for the supposed supe[r]lative wisdom of their fathers and the preposterous idea that they are to look backward for better things and not forward, longing, as it should seem, to return to the days of eating acorns and roots rather than indulge in the degeneracies of civilization. And how much more encouraging to the atchievements of science and improvement, is this, than the desponding view that the condition of man cannot be ameliorated, that what has been, must ever be, and that to secure Ourselves where we are, we must tread with awfull reverence in the footsteps of Our fathers.

      As Jefferson looks to inspire the others why this higher institute would benefit all. He states that education itself is what has improved our lifestyle up to this point and it will continue to improve the quality of life itself. That as a civilization we have a duty to evolve as a species and look to education to learn as much as we can about ourselves and the world. He makes reference to their fathers that we too should follow the path the have set fro us.

    2. To enlighten them with mathematical and physical sciences which advance the arts & administer to the health, the subsistence & comforts of human life:

      Interesting to see that during a time period where medicine and health were taking off, Thomas Jefferson and the others wanted to keep up to date in all forms of education. A curriculum for medicine must have been constantly changing due to new innovations of technology and discoveries in medicine.

  2. Oct 2017
    1. 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; and that a passage of some kind under cover from the weather should give a communication along the whole range.

      In my engagement "The individual and Society" we learn about individuals and the type of society they live in. Here, we see students and faculty as individuals creating a community and learning environment in which they coexist with one another. Both are living together to study, influence, inspire, and learn from each other. What better way to practice what is taught then to live it. It also allows fro there to be social class distinction if all the students are living in the same conditions.