And generally to form them to habits of reflection, and correct action, rendering them examples of virtue to others & of happiness within themselves.
My problem with this excerpt falls under the same problem I had with the previous one. The commissioners claim to be creating the university in order to "enlarge minds" and to "form... habits of... correct action," however, with them pushing the importance of the "white population," their attempts are useless.
To develope the reasoning faculties of our youth, enlarge their minds cultivate their morals, & instil into them the precepts of virtue & order.
This sentence rubs me the wrong way. Earlier in the article, it is written multiple times that the location for the university was determined by the "centrality of the white population," and here, it is written that the purpose of the university is to "cultivate [the students'] morals" and to "instil into them... virtue and order." If one of the primary objects the commissioners want to cater to is the white population, this will alter the university, the professors, and the students.
This would generally be about the 15th year of their age when they might go with more safety and contentment to that distance from their parents.
The author uses pronouns such as "they" and "their" to refer to the "boys" they referenced earlier; this distinction is unsurprising given the time period, however, the idea that young adults will begin college when they're 15 is shocking. The human brain isn't even fully developed until around the age of 25.
the branches of learning which we think should be taught in the University, forming them into groups, each of which are within the powers of a single professor.
At first I found this excerpt interesting because it immediately felt confining - "which we think should be taught," "within the powers of a single professor." I also realized I'm currently taking multiple classes not listed, such as evolution, psychology, and ASL; this reminded me that knowledge expands over time. Like others who annotated this piece, I was confused as to why they thought one professor for each branch would be sufficient; initially I just thought that they wanted the university to be small and exclusive, however it's possible that the board wasn't aware of the university's potential.