- Dec 2017
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engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu
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Education, in like manner engrafts a new man on the native stock, & improves what in his nature was vicious & perverse, into qualities of virtue and social worth; and it cannot be but that each generation succeeding to the knowledge acquired by all those who preceded it, adding to it their own acquisitions & discoveries, and handing the mass down for successive & constant accumulation, must advance the knowledge & well-being of mankind: not infinitely, as some have said, but indefinitely, and to a term which no one can fix or foresee.
The power and significance of education is eloquently exemplified in this passage. Through the clarification that the qualities of education should not “infinitely” acquired but rather “indefinitely,” the authors highlight one of the goals for the university. Education will be pursued without limits or bounds and it is only through a suitable environment, which the commissioners are attempting to create, that this vision will be brought to life.
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The importance of a well-rounded student that everyone has constantly been told to strive towards is prominent in education even at the proposal of the university. The list of subjects illustrates the ideals that should enhance an individual's character. The part that stands out to me is that it seems as the aim of creating educated citizens is for the betterment of the state. As a country that was founded and shaped through politics, it would naturally make sense for the commissioners of this university to insure the improvement.
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