Rollins College - Tomokan Yearbook (Winter Park, FL)

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Shakespeare, Shelley, Keats, Mann, Anderson — all gaily introduced and understood through Dr. Evelyn Newman. oar in as he may, but does not receive more than his due of consideration. In short, the scene reminds the thoughtful onlooker of Arthur and his Round Table, where no Knight, not Arthur himself, sits at the head of the table, since the ideal around that sitting - place is democracy: de- mocracy working in terms of the intellect and culture. Each and everyone at that table has the chance to be heard and is accepted on the assumption that he really has something to say. The others, aside from the so - called teacher, seem to be truly warmed up by the talk, so that (mirabile dictu) even if the time-limit be reached, or passed, they do not manifest the fact by a sudden departure of interest, sign that they think they are being taken advan tage of by the elder comrade. Professor France and Professor Feuerstein discuss a problem. Scene Two is in sharp contrast. And it takes us back twenty-five, or maybe fifty years. A platform, upon which solemnly sits a revered figure (he may THE STRUGGLE WITH THE ABSTRACT Dr. Wendell Stone leads his classes through Spinozan, Leibnitzian, Platonic mazes — safe conduct in difficult territory. have a beard, unless he is a woman), who lectures steadily to another group (grandparents now of Group Number One) : those present write hastily, nerv- ously in note-books, or secrete a pony beneath the table if the Latin is too hard or Greek still harder. There is compulsory work in that ancient room by those on the ranged benches below the teacher. But the recitation is formal, there is an apparent barrier between teacher and taught, facts are at a premium, and the re- citer appears a little like a witness at a trial. He doesn ' t appear to be en- joying himself, and when called to his feet, you can bet that last dollar of yours he is out for a mark. Free dis- cussion isn ' t likely under these circumstances. Nor does the domocratic ideal obtain suf- ficiently so you would notice it, had you been able to drop in on such a scene. Group One is what you may see any day at Rollins. Group Tito is what the present witness, as a freshman, partici-

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I N S PLAN 7 tit ten lit V URTON and FRANCES PERPENTE same informality as exists in a busi- ness or professional office in the out- side world. Winslow S. Anderson, Dean of the College. The truth is that the Rollins Con- ference Plan has never been tried one hundred per cent, at Rollins any more than Chris- tianity has been tried in the churches. I may be mistaken, but I think if it were 3 Rollins would gain another fifty per cent, in efficiency and eventually in reputation. Hard work when you work, ardent play when you play, makes for health, happiness and wholesomeness, but the minute the administration puts too much pressure on the faculty and the faculty too much pressure on the students, then you lose a certain spontaniety and comradeship and zest, and everything becomes regimented. Then the fear of punishment rather than the hope of reward is the motive under which all are working. But if the professors would live up not only to the spirit but the letter of the Two-hour Conference Plan, I have no fear but what the students would respond ninety-five per cent. Why not all try it for next year? TWO SCENES: A CONTRAST Scene One shows us a long table around which sit a group of people of both sexes. With one exception they are young, their ages ranging from 18 to over 20. The exception is a man or woman anywhere from 30 to 70 — possibly over that near deadline. But listen to the talk. What do you hear? You hear a lively discussion of some point, problem or principle, conducted by comrades-in-arms in the exciting ad- venture of Learning. It is carried on without fear or favor. People interrupt each other, dispute, contradict, as the case may be. And the older person, commonly called professor, puts his Mr. E. T. Brown, Treasurer of the College.

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pated in at Amherst College, Oh, very long ago! And Group One, believe it or not, is what the Con- ference Plan results in, today, at Rollins, a col- lege making a noble ef- fort to democratize, make more vital by re- moving conventional barriers, the old - time game of education. Un- derlying everything is the faith that learning should be, can be, at- tractive, if the right method be used. But, says some sceptic, it doesn ' t always work. Well, perhaps not, for exceptions creep into all h u m a n undertakings. But, dear heaven, how much better it works that it did in the dear old days when the professor-on-the- platform, above and superior to his cowed pupils, ruled the roost, and was afraid to be human enough to touch elbows with his fellow -pursuers of Knowledge! The difference between Now and I hen is one fundamental in the con- ception both of how-to- do-it, and of human na- ture, which, after all, is the material all educa- tion must work in and with. And that ' s why one veteran, who happens to get pleasure in comradely relations fiercely enjoys and defends the Rollins way of doing things. Richard Burton. What is the Rollins Plan? It is not just the con- ference plan, two-hour classes, the Upper and . . . not a cold defini- He punctuates the day: Get up! Eat! Time for class! Lower Divisions tion, the shadow of reality, but reality living. Pictures flash SYNTHESIS Shapeless clay takes on the forms of life at the sculpture studio. ANALYSIS Life returns to its simpler forms under skillful finsers in the science labs.