would weigh heavily with parents in sending their sons to a school so distant as the Central establishment would be from most of them. Districts of such extent as that every parent should be within a days journey of his son at school, would be desirable in cases of sickness, and convenient for supplying their Ordinary wants and might be made to lessen sensibly the expense of this part of their education.
It seems as if the commissioners placed a lot of significance on sons being very far away from their families. Did the commissioners believe that this would help students focus more on their work? Personally, I could not imagine being days away from my parents (I fee like 2 hours is a lot). I also wonder if Jefferson believed that schooling in rural areas was not w as worthy as schooling in large districts. Why did he believe this? Is there any personal experience that would lead him to this belief? As someone with a lot of leisure time due to his wealth, I believe Jefferson does have some personal bias to urban, wealthy educations.