The fact that the authors of this document seemed to foresee a relationship between Americans and Spanish speaking cultures and nations speaks a lot for their intuition in deciding to teach the language to its students. They were right in that, according to wikipedia, the second most spoken language in the United States is spanish, by a large margin. Generally, I assume people at the time looked down upon these cultures, after taking AP U.S. History and learning about the abuse many other cultures suffered, and was surprised at this statement and decision to include it in the founding of this university. Possibly, this speaks to the forward thinking nature of higher education at the time or just in the University of Virginia. Annie Chapman

The writers of this document seem to have a more wholistic view of the purpose of higher education, where possibly the idea of a liberal arts education at the University of Virginia stems from. Education's purpose, as the authors posit, comes from a more general view of the betterment of society and self reflection, instead of educated for the purpose of a job or profession. Today, in a lot of circumstances, college is equally treated as such, in that many students go to school without a specific purpose in mind, potentially because society views college graduates as more qualified for most jobs, despite the degree received, compared to just a high school graduate. Annie Chapman

Higher education during this time period was primarily aimed towards educating the male American population, with little regard for women's right to education, which is important context to remember. It's easy in our day and age to forget how far we've come in regards to women's rights, so this three letter phrase popped out to me and reminded me of the difference in context. Its also interesting to note that "practices of manhood" were included in a document aimed at creating an effective educational institution, meaning that a part of education was thought to include teaching men how to conform to what was culturally expected of a man.

When thinking about the function of education, especially a public education funded by the government, its surprising that something the writers of this document thought was important to state as an aspect of the school's purpose is to cultivate morality. Using phrases such as "correct action" and "virtue," without explicitly stating where these guidelines are found or how they will be implemented seems vague and almost idealistic, lacking the ability to follow through. Are these personal cultivations part of the government's responsibility to educate its citizens?