Rollins College - Tomokan Yearbook (Winter Park, FL)

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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.

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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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Ici on parle le francais. The professor prepares. out. The horseshoe at noon on a hot day. Bright relaxed clusters of people sprawled at ease on the green turf, over them the intense blue of the sky, under their hands the cool living grass. The crew house on a sunny afternoon in spring and the finish of a race; water sliding bright from the blue and yellow oar blades to the beating Stroke! of the coxswain, and the rhythmic splendid movement of the crew. Prexy and Brad and Granberry intent and interested against lush green water plants. Sally laughing. Free bronze motion through sunlight. Hours of recreating the living word from the pages of books. The wings of an idea. The chill of a winter morn- ing. And I was glad to leave Chicago! The graceful arc of a jack-knife drawn clean and sharp against sky and water from the diving tower. Football at night, a little grotesque under flood lights, and afterwards cool air rushing by, and then places blue-clouded in smoke with faces blossoming through the blare of the honky tonk. Places crowded with warm - pulsed music and moving feet and frail colors against masculine black. Classes. Re- A class in books with Dr. Edwin O. Grover.