ROLLINS
COLLEGE COLLOQUY
Liberal Education and Social Responsibility in a Global Community
THE ROLLINS CURRICULUM
A Brief History
Jack C. Lane '06H
Weddell Professor Emeritus of
American History
& College Historian
When Rollins College students first appeared for classes in 1885 they were faced with a Classical Curriculum, a typical 19th century course of study. The purpose of this curriculum was to build character and produce a cultured and refined citizen. This powerful moral purpose, it was believed could best be 
achieved in a prescribed curriculum of courses primarily in mathematics and Greek and Latin literature and history, or what was called the Seven Liberal Arts. Students were expected to absorb this education through a mode of teaching called “recitation”. By memorizing and reciting in class long passages from Greek and Latin texts, students would then internalize these text’s moral lessons and at the same time exercise and cultivate their own mental powers. This curriculum remained in place from 1885 to 1896.
Although the classical curriculum was the standard course of study at the time of Rollins College’s founding, transformations were already underway in the nation that seriously called into question its relevance. In a growing industrial economy and urban society, with countless careers opening to more young people, the prescribed study of Greek and Latin seemed totally antiquated. At Rollins it presented a more practical problem: parts of Florida were still sparsely populated, primary and secondary schools were virtually nonexistent, and thus few students were prepared to enter a college with such rigid and difficult requirements. Thus in 1896 the college introduced a new curriculum it called the Elective Curriculum. Its purpose, the catalogue stated, was “allow students to order their own program of study to fit their tastes and to chose their professions.” This meant a significant change from the character-building purposes of the classical curriculum; students would now use courses to help prepare them for making a living in a more career-oriented society. The course of study was divided into four divisions, roughly the science, social science, literature and art divisions, with students selecting a prescribed number of courses from each division.
The Elective Curriculum lasted from 1896 to 1932 when again the college responded to changes in American society, this time to the progressive educational ideas of philosopher John Dewey. The Rollins 
President, Hamilton Holt, had long been a advocate of Dewey’s idea that all education should be student-centered, that students should be responsible for their own education, that faculty should serve as facilitators of a student’s education. Shortly after arriving at Rollins in the mid-1920s he introduced a new method of structuring courses and teaching he called the Conference Plan, where in 2-hour classes students and faculty would study and learn together in a kind of workshop stetting. Then in 1932, after a conference of progressive educations led by Dewey himself, Rollins introduced a progressive curriculum (one of the first in the nation in higher education) it called “Individualization in Education.” For the first time students, in consultation with a faculty advisers would be responsible for constructing their own course of study. Students moved through the Lower and Upper Divisions at their own pace, but were required to submit evidence of achievement in order to enter the Upper Division and for graduation. Rollins gained nation acclaim for this experimental and innovative venture into progressive education.
The Progressive Curriculum served the college for the next three decades but had undergone so many incremental changes over the years that it was hardly recognizable. In 1964, an effort to provide a more coherent course of study, the college introduced another curriculum change it called the Hour-Glass Curriculum. The major thrust of this new curriculum was to provide students with the opportunity to
experience a general education in the first two years and then narrow their study in the Junior year, concentrating on the major, and broaden again with integrated courses in the Senior year. The highlight of the new curriculum featured four team-taught division courses in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Arts and Sciences. These Foundation Courses were taken by all freshmen. Another unique feature of the H-G Curriculum was four week Winter Term program where professors offered short experimental courses. Though somewhat different from the Progressive Curriculum, the Hour-Glass Curriculum was viewed as a continuation of the Rollins progressive innovation tradition.
After two decades, the Hour-Glass Curriculum, as with the Progressive Curriculum, had undergone several incremental changes, including dropping the Foundation Courses, creating the need for another revision. In 1980, the college introduced the present curriculum based on the theoretical constructs of the Bloom Educational Taxonomy. Although the taxonomy was intended for classroom teaching, the college attempted to apply its categories to the curriculum structure. A comparison of the original curriculum with the present one reveals, again, many incremental changes, creating the need for another revision.
Reflecting on the 120 year Rollins curriculum experience, at least two aspects stand out:
- About every two decades the college has seen the necessity to revise its course of study, almost always responding to changes that have occurred in educational philosophy and the society at large.
- Through its curriculum revisions and its pedagogy, Rollins has attempted to continue the progressive educational tradition of seeking innovative ways of fostering student learning. It is that tradition that has given Rollins College both its distinctiveness and its identity.
