8 Matching Annotations
  1. Nov 2017
    1. Signed and certified

      There was once an analysis of the signatures of the writers of the Declaration. It would be interesting to have a brief biography of each of these signers and see if their signatures correlated with their importance in the creation of the document or their egos.

      -Shannon Lee

    2. must advance the knowledge & well-being of mankind: not infinitely, as some have said, but indefinitely

      Earlier in the paragraph, they mention how learned men think applied sciences are useless, but the commissioners know that science is of supreme importance in advancing technology. Perhaps they simply dismissed the concerns of those men of "respectable information" when creating their course catalog and included tons of science and math concepts. -Shannon Lee

    3. in each of which should be a lecturing room with from two to four apartments for the accommodation of a professor and his family

      Did they only plan to have ten professors? Would it be the most prestigious professors that got to live there, like the professors in charge of the groups of subjects mentioned later in the report? Was the University to provide accommodations for extra professors? The fact that they were going to allow professors to live where they worked and among students is pretty strange in the modern context, but it would have encouraged bonding between masters and pupils which is good. -Shannon Lee

    4. within the powers of a single professor

      The founders should have included a method for more professors to head a group of subjects. They should also have included a vetting process for professors to make sure the quality of the students' education was high. If the professor they hired for the group was terrible, students that wanted to major in that area were out of luck, a situation that is not conducive to a proper education.

      -Shannon Lee

    5. Medicine, when fully taught, is usually subdivided into several professorships, but this cannot well be without the accessory of an hospital, where the student can have the benefit of attending clinical lectures & of assisting at operations of surgery.

      The lack of preparation for a true and thorough medicinal education seems to be foreshadowing the slapdash nature of the Anatomical House, where people stole dead enslaved bodies from cemeteries for the students to use as cadavers. The founders should have created plans for a proper classroom for medical students and for cadaver deliveries.

      -Shannon Lee

    6. no greater obstruction to industrious study could be proposed than the presence, the intrusions, and the noisy turbulence of a Multitude of small boys

      "A multitude of small boys" would definitely not be conducive to the mission of an institution of higher education to prepare citizens for the real world. They probably wouldn't understand the advanced knowledge being taught in class. It's interesting to note how the creation of the university facilitated "preliminary schools" throughout Virginia, definitely helping to educate the population.

      -Shannon Lee

    7. History (being interwoven with Politics & Law[)]

      Even two hundred years ago, interdisciplinary learning was a priority for policymakers. It makes sense to contextualize politics and law with history, so that students will understand WHY laws were made rather than just memorize the statutes.

  2. Oct 2017