When I first saw James Madison's name at the bottom here, I thought "Oh of course him and Jefferson were very close friends. That's why he's here." Then I began researching further and came to the realization that Madison was heavily involved with the conception of our university and its continuation after Jefferson's death. He was on the Board of Visitors right from the start, and after Jefferson's death, he was chosen as the Rector of the board. Rector is essentially the head executive, and in this position, he maintained the university according to the image Thomas Jefferson had. He was also an active supporter and funder of the Library at the university. His courageous leadership and funding of the university shows that he was just as important to this University as Jefferson and every other man on this list.

http://static.lib.virginia.edu/jamesmadison/protector.htm http://static.lib.virginia.edu/jamesmadison/patron.htm

The point being made here seems to emphasize the university's goal in achieving a true liberal arts education to form well rounded individuals in society today. This of course still holds true today more than ever with the university forming a new curriculum to bring more self awareness to students than ever before. It's more interesting look at the original conception of this message at a time when whites only learned the ideas of other whites to become cultured. As time has progressed and a wider array of students have been accepted into the university, the definition of what it means to be well-rounded and cultured here has evolved and is continuously doing so as the university tries to breed intellectuals that will change the world.

What piqued my interest about this section are the languages being taught here and possibly the reasons why. Languages such as Latin and Greek make sense as they have a heavy influence in the vocabulary of the sciences as well as being the two main language pools of the classics. The instruction of Hebrew makes little sense to me because the Jewish Population was small at the time. Therefore, was this a part of a theology course at the University? The languages from French down to German all make sense as most people living in the Americas had lineage to Western Europe to those countries as well as Holland. These last four languages were most likely necessary for communication, to keep up with modern scientific advancements originating from Western Europe, and to study the incoming literature of the Romanticism era in Europe.

This passage gives the reader insight to the socioeconomic status of students coming into the university, and also the stratification of society during this post-colonial era. College at the time was seen as something unnecessary for most as the majority of populations ran their family business or farms. Those that went and pursued a higher education had the time and wealth to put their resources into activities beyond running the family business. That is why you see this belittling of primary school education in this passage as it was something provided for the masses, and colleges are for those strictly looking to better themselves. Taking into account the costs of college as well, there is a clear divide in which types of people were attending college with the upper middle class being primary students.