METHODS OF INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS
THE USE OF SIGNS AS A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION
Deaf children cannot be educated as other children, and in the schools
there have to be employed special means of instruction. In the present
chapter it is our purpose to consider these methods only as they
represent, in a complete study of the provision of the state for the
education of the deaf, the means which have been found necessary to
employ to attain this end.
From the beginning of organized instruction of the deaf in America a
system of signs has been in use to a wide extent. At the time when the
methods of instruction of the deaf were introduced into the first
schools, the "sign language" was brought in as an essential part from
France, where it had largely been formulated. Modified somewhat and
considerably enlarged--and in conjunction with the manual alphabet, of
Spanish origin--the system has taken its place as a recognized means of
education and communication in the great number of the schools. The deaf
themselves after passing from the doors of the schools have employed
the sign language mainly in their intercourse with one another, and with
most of them meetings and social affairs are conducted virtually
entirely in this manner. Thus the sign language has for long been one of
the vehicles--usually the chief vehicle--of communication among the deaf
and their instructors.
With the sign language for practical use goes the manual alphabet, or
"finger-spelling," by which the several letters of the alphabet are
represented on the hand, the two together really constituting the
language.[546] The order of signs itself forms to an extent a universal
language. It consists of gestures, bodily movements, mimic actions,
pantomime, postures--and to carry a close shade of meaning, even the
shrugging of shoulders, the raising of eyebrows and the expression of
the face--all appealing graphically to the accustomed eye. The signs of
which it is made up are partly natural, and partly arbitrary or
conventional; and the whole system as now practiced has been codified,
as it were, for experienced users. By the deaf it can be employed
rapidly and with ease, and is readily and clearly understood. Many of
them become such masters of this silent tongue that it may be used with
grace, warmth and expressiveness.[547]
RISE AND GROWTH OF THE ORAL MOVEMENT
This system of signs, however, has not been looked upon with favor by
all parties. The "sign language" is said to be a foreign language, known
and understood by only a very small part of the population, standing as
a great barrier to the acquisition of language used by people generally,
and tending to make the deaf of a class apart or "clannish." In its
place in the schools would be substituted what is known as the "oral
method," and speech and lip-reading would be used as the means of
instruction. It has been sought thus to give all the schools over to the
oral method, and summarily to drive out the sign language.[548]
Though the system of signs has been used in America as the prevailing
method from the beginning, it cannot be said that speech-teaching had
not been employed at all in the early days. Several schools had started
out as oral schools,[549] and in others speech had been employed to a
greater or less extent.[550] But in none of the schools had the oral
method been retained to the exclusion of all others.
In time, however, attempts were made to secure the adoption of a pure
oral system. Attention was called especially to Germany, which had long
been known as the home of this method, and it was sought to introduce
it into America.[551] In 1843 Horace Mann and Dr. Samuel G. Howe visited
that country, and on their return reported in favor of the oral method,
though no change was then brought about.[552]
A few years later the matter was further agitated, and in 1864 an effort
was made to have an oral school incorporated in Massachusetts, but
without success. A small oral school was then started at Chelmesford in
1866, which after a short time was removed to Northampton, having been
very liberally endowed, and becoming known as the Clarke School. In 1867
the legislature decided to incorporate this, and to allow some of the
state pupils to be sent to it.
In the meantime--in fact, seven months prior to the actual establishment
of the Clarke School--a school which had resulted from a private class
had been started in New York City, known as the New York Institution for
the Improved Instruction of Deaf-Mutes. This was under a former Austrian
teacher, and its stated purpose was to use the oral method as in
Germany. Two years later the school board of Boston, having made a
canvass of the deaf children of the city, resolved to establish a day
school, which was to be a pure oral one, and which not long after was
called the Horace Mann School. These three schools were thus the
pioneers in the present oral movement.[553]
The oral method has gained ground steadily since these times. It is now
used exclusively in twelve of the institutions, while it has always
remained the prevailing method in the day schools.[554] A great
extension is also found in the institutions employing what is called the
"combined system," and in them more and more attention is given to the
teaching of speech.
The growth in the number of speech-taught pupils may be indicated in the
following table, showing the number and percentage of those taught
speech in different years from 1884, the year we first have record; of
those taught wholly or chiefly by the oral method since 1892; and also
of those taught wholly or chiefly by the auricular method since
1893.[555]
NUMBER OF THE DEAF TAUGHT SPEECH, NUMBER TAUGHT WHOLLY OR CHIEFLY BY
ORAL METHOD, AND NUMBER TAUGHT WHOLLY OR CHIEFLY BY AURICULAR METHOD, IN
DIFFERENT YEARS
------+--------+--------+------+---------+------+------------+------
| | | | NUMBER | | NUMBER |
| TOTAL | | | TAUGHT | | TAUGHT |
| NUMBER | NUMBER | | WHOLLY | | WHOLLY |
YEAR | OF | TAUGHT | PER | OR | PER | OR | PER
| PUPILS | SPEECH | CENT | CHIEFLY | CENT | CHIEFLY BY | CENT
| | | | BY ORAL | | AURICULAR |
| | | | METHOD | | METHOD |
------+--------+--------+------+---------+------+------------+------
1884 | 7,482 | 2,041 | 27.2 | | | |
1890 | 8,901 | 3,682 | 41.3 | | | |
1892 | 7,940 | 3,924 | 49.4 | 1,581 | 19.9 | |
1893 | 8,304 | 4,485 | 54.0 | 2,056 | 24.7 | 80 | 0.9
1895 | 9,252 | 5,084 | 54.9 | 2,570 | 27.7 | 149 | 1.6
1900 | 10,608 | 6,887 | 63.0 | 4,538 | 42.8 | 108 | 1.0
1905 | 11,344 | 7,700 | 67.8 | 5,733 | 50.5 | 149 | 1.3
1910 | 12,332 | 8,868 | 71.9 | 7,562 | 61.3 | 134 | 1.1
1913 | 13,459 | 10,138 | 75.3 | 8,791 | 65.3 | 135 | 1.1
It thus appears that in a little over a quarter of a century the
proportion of pupils in the schools taught speech has nearly trebled;
and that in a score of years the proportion taught chiefly or wholly by
the oral method has more than trebled. The proportion of the pupils
taught wholly or chiefly by the auricular method never rises above two
per cent.
It should be stated, however, that these figures are not to be taken as
meaning that all the pupils thus enumerated have become proficient in
the employment of speech, or have become able to speak clearly and
intelligibly, and well enough for general practical use. It would be
nearest the truth to say that they are "taught articulation," or that
they are instructed by the use of speech and speech-reading. Oftentimes
the greatest success lies in the preservation in fair shape of the
speech of those who have once had it. The speech acquired by the deaf is
of varying degrees, as we have seen; but in some it may be such as to be
of distinct service, as well as the lip-reading which may be said to go
with it.[556]
PRESENT METHODS OF INSTRUCTION
The methods of instruction at present employed in American schools for
the deaf are known as the manual, the manual alphabet, the oral, the
auricular and the combined. They are thus described in the
_Annals_:[557]
I. THE MANUAL METHOD.--Signs, the manual alphabet, and writing are
the chief means used in the instruction of the pupils, and the
principal objects aimed at are mental development and facility in
the comprehension and use of written language. The degree of
relative importance given to these three means varies in different
schools; but it is a difference only in degree, and the end aimed at
is the same in all.
II. THE MANUAL ALPHABET METHOD.--The manual alphabet and writing are
the chief means used in the instruction of the pupils, and the
principal objects aimed at are mental development and facility in
the comprehension and use of written language. Speech and
speech-reading are taught to all of the pupils in the school (the
Western New York Institution) recorded as following this method.
III. THE ORAL METHOD.--Speech and speech-reading, together with
writing, are made the chief means of instruction, and facility in
speech and speech-reading, as well as mental development and written
language, is aimed at. There is a difference in the different
schools in the extent to which the use of natural signs is allowed
in the early part of the course, and also in the prominence given to
writing as an auxiliary to speech and speech-reading in the course
of instruction; but they are differences only in degree, and the end
aimed at is the same in all.
IV. THE AURICULAR METHOD.--The hearing of semi-deaf pupils is
utilized and developed to the greatest possible extent, and with or
without the aid of artificial appliances, their education is carried
on chiefly through the use of speech and hearing, together with
writing. The aim of the method is to graduate its pupils as
hard-of-hearing speaking people, instead of deaf-mutes.
V. THE COMBINED SYSTEM.--Speech and speech-reading are regarded as
very important, but mental development and the acquisition of
language are regarded as still more important. It is believed that
in many cases mental development and the acquisition of language can
best be promoted by the Manual or Manual Alphabet Method, and so far
as circumstances permit, such method is chosen for each pupil as
seems best adapted for his individual case. Speech and
speech-reading are taught where the measure of success seems likely
to justify the labor expended, and in most of the schools some of
the pupils are taught wholly or chiefly by the Oral Method or the
Auricular Method.[558]
Of these methods the oral and the combined are practically the only ones
found. The auricular is employed only in connection with certain pupils
in some of the schools; while the manual method is found in but two
schools, and the manual alphabet in but one. In the institutions the
combined is by far the preponderating system, being employed in all but
fifteen of the sixty-five; while the oral is employed in twelve. On the
other hand, the oral method is used in the day schools almost
altogether, there being but two of the sixty-five schools employing the
combined system. In the twenty-one denominational and private schools
the oral method predominates, fifteen employing the oral or the oral and
auricular, and six the combined. In such schools, the denominational
more often employ the combined method, while the strictly private are
oral.
In respect to the number of pupils in the schools using the two chief
methods, we find that 83.7 per cent of those in institutions are in
institutions employing the combined system, and 13.9 per cent in oral
institutions; that of those in day schools 96.1 per cent are in oral
schools, and 3.9 per cent in combined; and that of those in
denominational and private schools, 54.8 per cent are in combined
schools, and 45.2 per cent in oral. Of all the pupils in the schools,
72.4 per cent are in schools employing the combined system of
instruction, and 25.6 per cent in schools employing the oral. The
percentage taught by the manual or manual alphabet method is 2.0. The
percentage given auricular instruction is 1.1.
COURSES OF STUDY AND GRADATIONS OF PUPILS
Schools for the deaf have courses of study corresponding in general with
those in regular schools, although special emphasis and drill have to be
put upon language--something the congenitally deaf child in particular
finds exceedingly difficult to use properly. Pupils capable of taking
the full course are carried through the kindergarten, primary,
intermediate, grammar and high school grades; and on the completion of
the prescribed course may receive diplomas, while in some cases a
certificate may be granted for a certain period of attendance. Not a
large proportion of the pupils, however, really graduate.[559]
In all the schools for the deaf in the United States in the year
1912-1913 there were 14,474 pupils. Of these, 11,894, or 82.2 per cent,
were in institutions; 1,942, or 13.4 per cent, in day schools; and 638,
or 4.4 per cent, in denominational and private schools.[560] The
instructors employed in all the schools (not including teachers of
industries, but including superintendents or principals) number 1,419,
or one instructor for every 9.5 pupils: in the institutions, 1,090, or
one to 10; in the day schools, 223, or one to 7.9; and in the
denominational and private, 92, or one to 5.7.[561] The total number of
pupils who have received instruction from the beginning is 72,453, of
whom 89.0 per cent have been in institutions, 7.7 per cent in day
schools, and 3.3 per cent in denominational and private schools.
The following table, based on the figures given in the Report of the
United States Commissioner of Education will show the number of pupils
in the different grades and classes in the schools for the year
1911-1912.[562]
GRADES OF PUPILS IN THE SCHOOLS
--------------+------------+---------------+-------------+-------------
| | CLASSES | CLASSES | CLASSES
| | CORRESPONDING |CORRESPONDING|CORRESPONDING
KIND OF SCHOOL|KINDERGARTEN|TO GRADES 1 TO | TO GRADES 5 | TO HIGH
|DEPARTMENTS |4 IN ELEMENTARY| TO 8 | SCHOOL
| | SCHOOLS | | GRADES
--------------+------------+---------------+-------------+-------------
Institutions | 1,063 | 5,040 | 3,365 | 1,069
Day Schools | 134 | 1,195 | 559 | 38
Denominational| | | |
and Private | | | |
Schools | 63 | 244 | 163 | 16
+------------+---------------+-------------+-------------
Total | 1,260 | 6,479 | 4,087 | 1,123
For 1912 there were reported 133 graduates from the schools: 130 from
institutions, 2 from day schools, and 1 from denominational or private
schools.[563]
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOLS
The industrial training given in the American schools for the deaf forms
a very important feature of the work--in many respects it may be said to
be the most important. In many of the schools industrial instruction was
recognized almost from the very start, and in a number it commenced
practically with the beginning of the work of education.[564] It is now
provided in all the institutions, in nearly all the day schools, and in
over half of the denominational and private schools. Many of the
institutions have large, well-equipped shop and trade departments, with
skilled and capable instructors. Nearly every pupil at a suitable age is
put at some industry, and encouragement and special opportunity are
often given to those who show a particular bent or aptitude. The value
of this industrial preparation of the schools in the after lives of the
deaf has already been referred to.[565]
The following table will show the number and percentage of the pupils in
the several kinds of schools in industrial departments, according to
the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education for
1911-1912.[566]
NUMBER OF PUPILS IN INDUSTRIAL DEPARTMENTS IN SCHOOLS FOR THE DEAF
-----------------------------------+--------+-----------+----------
| TOTAL |NUMBER IN |
KIND OF SCHOOL | NUMBER |INDUSTRIAL | PER CENT
| |DEPARTMENTS|
-----------------------------------+--------+-----------+----------
Institutions | 11,244 | 6,203 | 55.2
Day Schools | 1,928 | 662 | 34.3
Denominational and Private Schools | 518 | 196 | 37.8
+--------+-----------+----------
Total | 13,690 | 7,061 | 51.8
In all the schools there are 403 industrial instructors, 373 being in
institutions.[567]
The industries taught in the schools, as given in the _Annals_,[568] are
as follows:
Art, baking, barbering, basket-making, blacksmithing, bookbinding,
bookkeeping, bricklaying, broom-making, building trades,
cabinet-making, calcimining, carpentry, chalk-engraving, cementing,
chair-making, china-painting, construction work, cooking,
clay-modeling, coopery, dairying, domestic science, drawing,
dress-making, electricity, embroidery, engineering, fancy work,
farming, floriculture, gardening, glazing, harness-making, house
decoration, half-tone engraving, housework, horticulture, ironing,
knife work, knitting, lace-making, laundering, leather work, manual
training, mattress-making, millinery, needlework, nursing, painting,
paper-hanging, photography, plastering, plate-engraving, plumbing,
pottery, poultry-farming, printing, pyrography, raffia, rug-weaving,
sewing, shoemaking, shop work, sign-painting, sloyd, stone-laying,
stencil work, tailoring, tin-work, tray work, typewriting, Venetian
iron-work, weaving, wood-carving, wood-engraving, wood-turning,
wood-working, working in iron, and the use of tools.
The number and kinds of particular industries taught in the different
schools vary not a little. In a few as many as a score are offered,
while in others only three or four are given. The average seems to be
about six or eight. The most usual industries afforded are art,
cabinet-making, carpentry, cooking, domestic science, drawing,
dress-making, farming, gardening, laundering, painting, printing,
sewing, shoemaking, sign-painting, tailoring, wood-working, and the use
of tools. The most common of all are carpentry, sewing, printing,
farming, shoemaking, and painting. In most of the institutions papers
are printed to afford practical instruction in printing, as well as to
give local news of interest. These papers are published weekly,
bi-weekly or monthly. A number of the schools, especially those in
agricultural states, also have small experimental farms in connection
with their industrial work, and dairy farming and truck gardening are
often given particular attention.[569]
FOOTNOTES:
[546] In America the one-hand alphabet is used practically altogether,
which is also the case with most of the countries of Europe. In England
the double-hand is employed mainly. Finger-spelling, as well as
sign-making, is very old with the human race. The Egyptians, Greeks and
Romans are said to have made use of a system of finger notation. In the
Middle Ages monks in their enforced silence often resorted to a finger
alphabet. Dalgarno, one of the early English writers on the deaf, had an
alphabet in which the letters were represented by parts of the hand. See
J. C. Gordon, "Practical Hints to Parents concerning the Preliminary
Training of Young Deaf Children", 1886, p. 34ff.; W. R. Cullingworth, "A
Brief Review of the Manual Alphabet for the Deaf", 1902.
[547] For a description of the sign language, see J. S. Long, "The Sign
Language: a Manual of Signs", 1910. See also _American Journal of
Science_, viii., 1824, p. 348; _Annals_, i., 1847, pp. 55, 79; v., 1852,
pp. 83, 149; vii., 1855, p. 197; xvi., 1871, p. 221; xviii., 1873, p. 1;
xxxii., 1887, p. 141; lvii., 1911, p. 46; Proceedings of American
Instructors, ii., 1851, p. 193; iv., 1857, p. 133; vii., 1870, p. 133;
xii., 1890, pp. 100, 171; Report of New York Institution, 1838, p. 14;
1840, p. 17; American School, 1856, p. 18; California School, 1875, p.
24. See also "The Deaf: by their Fruits," by the New York Institution,
1912.
[548] Against the arguments to abolish the sign language, it is claimed
that signs are free, and are as natural to the deaf as spoken words to
the hearing; that with certain of the deaf, especially the congenitally
deaf, they are all but indispensable; that they cause mental stimulation
as cannot otherwise be done; that the acquisition of speech requires a
great amount of time, which is often needed for other things; that the
voices of many of the deaf are disagreeable and attract notice; that
communication readily and with pleasure among the deaf by speech and
speech-reading cannot be accomplished to any wide extent; that only with
the gifted few, and not with the general body of the deaf, can such
proficiency in the use of speech and speech-reading be attained as to
cause them to be "restored to society", in that they can with ease and
with any considerable degree of satisfaction carry on intercourse with
the hearing; and that, finally, the great majority of the deaf
vigorously demand the retention of the sign language.
[549] The New York Institution, by a resolution adopted at the first
meeting of its board of directors in 1818, decided for the employment of
articulation teaching, which policy was continued for some ten years.
Report, 1908, p. 30; E. H. Currier, "History of Articulation Teaching in
the New York Institution", 1894 (Proceedings of American Association to
Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, iv., sec. 12); _American
Journal of Education_, iii., 1828, p. 397.
[550] In addition, there have always been sporadic instances of private
instruction in speech, as by one's family or friends.
[551] It is also claimed that it was by accident that the sign method
came into vogue in America, Gallaudet in his trip to Europe having found
the London and Edinburgh schools closed to him, and having for this
reason been compelled to turn to France, where the sign method was in
use.
[552] It is interesting to note that after Mann and Howe had made their
report, the American School at Hartford and the New York Institution
sent special representatives to Europe to investigate, these advising
little change on the whole. See Report of American School, 1845, p. 25;
New York Institution, 1844, p. 62; 1851, p. 83.
[553] See "Life and Works of Horace Mann", 1891, iii., p. 245; "Life and
Journals of Samuel G. Howe", 1909, p. 169; Report of Board of Charities
of Massachusetts, 1867, p. lxxii.; 1868, p. lx.; Report of Special Joint
Committee of the Legislature on Education of Deaf-Mutes, Massachusetts,
1867; _North American Review_, lix., 1844, p. 329; civ., 1867, p. 528;
American Review, iii., 1846, p. 497; _Common School Journal_ (Boston),
vi., 1844, p. 65; Nation, iv., 1867, pp. 249, 339; Report of New York
Institution for Improved Instruction, 1868, p. 5; 1870, p. 10; American
School, 1849, p. 33; 1866, p. 18; 1867, p. 29; 1868, p. 16; Clarke
School, 1875, p. 5; Addresses at 25th Anniversary of Clarke School,
1892; Report of Committee of School for Deaf-Mutes (Horace Mann), 1873,
p. 3; 1891, p. 8; _Annals_, xxi., 1876, p. 178; _Lend a Hand_, xiii.,
1894, p. 346; _International Review_, xi., 1881, p. 503; G. G. Hubbard,
"Education of Deaf Mutes", 1867, and "Rise of Oral Method" (in collected
writings, 1898); A. G. Bell, "The Mystic Oral School: Argument in its
Favor", 1897, and "Fallacies concerning the Deaf", 1883; Boston Parents'
Education Association, "Offering in behalf of the Deaf", 1903; Fred
Deland, "Dumb No Longer: the Romance of the Telephone", 1903;
_Educational Review_, xii., 1896, p. 236; _Century Magazine_, xxxi.,
1897, p. 331; _American Educational Review_, xxxi., 1910, pp. 219, 281,
415; Proceedings of American Association to Promote the Teaching of
Speech to the Deaf, i., 1891, p. 89; _Volta Review_, xiv., 1912, p. 579
(Proceedings of same); Evidence before Royal Commission on the Deaf,
etc., 1892, i., p. 6; ii., p. 3; iii., p. 208.
[554] In many of the day school laws the use of the oral method is
required, which is also partly the case in several state institutions.
[555] These statistics are taken from the Special Reports of the Census
Office, 1906, p. 86, and the January issues of the _Annals_. See also
_Volta Review_, xv., 1913, p. 90; Proceedings of American Association to
Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf (Condition of Articulation
Teaching in American Institutions), ii., 1892; Report of Committee of
Horace Mann School, Massachusetts, 1891, p. 8ff.; 1895 (Proceedings of
25th Anniversary).
[556] The greatest usefulness of this speech is often found in one's own
family circle, or with immediate friends.
[557] Jan., 1914, lix., p. 41.
[558] The choice of methods for pupils may often depend on their
classification, as noted before, into deaf-mutes, that is, those who
have never been able to hear; semi-mutes, those who have been able to
hear and speak, and retain their speech to some extent; and semi-deaf,
those able to hear a little.
[559] For accounts of possible correspondence or extension courses for
the deaf outside the schools, see Report of California Institution,
1904, p. 18.
[560] From _Annals_, Jan., 1914, (lix., p. 23). For a few schools the
figures refer to the number present on November 10, 1913. The total
number on this date was 13,450. The _Volta Review_ for May, 1913 (xv.,
p. 99), gives the total number present on March 1, 1913, as 13,143. The
Report of the United States Commissioner of Education gives the number
for 1911-1912 as 13,690: in institutions, 11,244; in day schools, 1,928,
and in denominational and private schools, 518. The total number of
volumes in the libraries of the institutions was reported to be 132,461.
For tables respecting the schools, see Appendix B.
[561] Normal departments for the training of hearing teachers of the
deaf are maintained at Gallaudet College and the Clarke School, the
latter having a special fund, largely contributed by the American
Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf. Several of
the institutions also have training classes, and there are normal
departments in connection with the Chicago and Milwaukee day schools. On
the subject of pensions for teachers of the deaf, see _Annals_, xxix.,
1884, p. 304; Proceedings of Convention of American Instructors, xviii.,
1908, p. 146; Report of California School, 1912, p. 12.
[562] Report, 1912, ii., ch. xiii.
[563] It is hardly necessary to state that physical education is
provided for in the schools for the deaf quite as fully as in the
regular schools.
[564] The first school to give industrial training was the American
School at Hartford, this being begun in 1822. See History, 1893, p. 15;
Report of New Hampshire Board of Charities, 1908, p. 184.
[565] On this industrial training, see _Craftsman_, xiii., 1908, p. 400.
[566] ii., ch. xiii.
[567] _Annals_, Jan., 1914 (lix., p. 23).
[568] _Ibid._, p. 42.
[569] In some of the schools, as we find from the reports, the value of
the products of the farms and gardens may amount to a tidy sum, as may
also be the case with the trade schools.