The Deaf Part 18

[296] In Ohio the state commissioner of education may appoint and remove teachers, and inspect schools. In Wisconsin the state superintendent appoints inspectors, and the county judge may compel the establishment of schools.

[297] In Wisconsin $100 additional is allowed for the board of children who move to a town to attend a school.

[298] In Ma.s.sachusetts a direct appropriation of $150 _per capita_ is made by the state.

[299] The methods employed in the instruction of the deaf are treated of in Chapter XIX.

[300] The importance of this is accentuated in the present apprehensions concerning the dissolving and loosening of the ties of the home, indicated in more ways than one in present programs of social work.

[301] See A. G. Warner, "American Charities", rev. ed., 1908, p. 283; R.

R. Reeder, "How Two Hundred Children Live and Learn", 1910, pp. 57, 88; "Philanthropy and Social Progress", 1893, p. 172ff.

[302] It is claimed that in Wisconsin with the centralization plan of a state inst.i.tution one-third of the deaf children failed to be reached, and that by the day school there is a saving to the state of $20,000 a year. Proceedings of National Educational a.s.sociation, 1907, p. 986. See also _ibid._, 1897, p. 96; 1901, p. 870; 1910, p. 1039; Report of United States Commissioner of Education, 1881, p. ccxi.; P. A. Emery, "Plea for Early Mute Education," 1884; Improvement of the Wisconsin System of Education of Deaf Children, 1894; Public School Cla.s.ses for Deaf Children: Open Letter from Chicago a.s.sociation of Parents of Deaf Children, 1897; Michigan Day Schools for the Deaf, 1908; Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction of Michigan, 1909, p. 61; Report of Department of Public Instruction of Wisconsin, 1910, p. 60; Report of Board of Education of Chicago, 1912, p. 155; A. J. Winnie, "History and Handbook of Day Schools for the Deaf", Wisconsin, 1912; _Annals_, xx., 1875, p. 34; _a.s.sociation Review_, ii., 1900, p. 248; viii., 1906, p.

136; xi., 1909, p. 30; _Volta Review_, xiii., 1911, p. 292; _Independent_, lxxiv., 1913, p. 1140.

[303] See _Annals_, xxvii., 1882, p. 182; xxix., 1884, pp. 165, 312; x.x.x., 1885, p. 121; l., 1905, p. 70; lvi., 1911, p. 91; _Volta Review_, xv., 1913, p. 180; Proceedings of Convention of American Instructors, vii., 1870, p. 114; xiv., 1895, pp. 130, 350; Conference of Princ.i.p.als, vi., 1888, p. 202; viii., 1904, p. 70; Minnesota Conference of Charities and Corrections, 1898, p. 88; Report of Iowa School, 1885, p. 16; Pennsylvania Inst.i.tution, 1903, p. 38; California School, 1904, p. 20.

[304] One or two evening schools have been started in the past, to be discontinued after a few years, both under private and under public auspices. In the consideration, however, of any general scheme for evening schools it should be arranged that the work of the regular schools for the deaf is not infringed upon, and that pupils in these schools should not have before them the temptation of leaving prematurely, with the expectation of making up later. Probably the safest plan would be the securing of a satisfactory compulsory attendance law before evening schools are attempted upon a broad scale.

CHAPTER XII

DENOMINATIONAL AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS

DENOMINATIONAL SCHOOLS

In addition to the state inst.i.tutions and the day schools, there have been established in America certain schools for the deaf which are strictly under private management, and, as a rule, not subject to the immediate control and direction of the state. These are of two kinds: 1.

denominational schools, maintained by some religious body; and 2.

schools conducted as purely private and secular affairs. Such schools now number twenty-one, ten denominational and eleven private, all in 1912-1913 having 638 pupils. Most are of comparatively recent date, the first having been established in 1873, and nine since 1901.[305]

The denominational schools are found in California, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, there being two in Pennsylvania. They are for the most part boarding inst.i.tutions, in a few cases being departments of larger inst.i.tutions.

Their controlling purpose is to surround their pupils with religious influences, and to provide them with religious instruction. All but one are under Roman Catholic auspices, as a usual thing in the hands of the Sisters. The single Protestant school is in the care of the Lutheran Church, and is controlled by the synod, with the direct management vested in a board of trustees. These schools are supported by denominational funds, by voluntary contributions, and in a small measure by tuition fees. In some of the schools, as in Maryland and Pennsylvania, there is state aid to a small extent. The fees paid by pupils are never high, and not many in the schools pay the full amount, though inability to pay is never allowed to keep any away who wish to attend.[306]

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

The eleven non-denominational schools may be themselves divided into two cla.s.ses: those which are really homes for very young deaf children, sometimes under the control of a society organized for the purpose; and those which are purely private enterprises, owned and directed by one or more individuals. Of the former there are four homes or kindergartens--the Sarah Fuller Home of Boston, the McCowen Homes of Chicago, the Home School near Baltimore, and the Home School of San Francisco.[307] Their main object is to give their pupils an early start in the use of speech as well as to provide a home, and children as young as three, or even younger, may be admitted. The management of these schools is usually in the hands of trustees. Support is derived largely from the fees of pupils, though some schools are often the recipients of private donations, especially when children are taken without charge; and one or two have aid from public allowances.[308]

The private schools of the second cla.s.s are almost entirely dependent on tuition fees, though one or two likewise receive some state aid. With two exceptions,[309] they are found in large cities, New York having two, and Philadelphia, Baltimore and Cincinnati one each. These schools are both boarding and day schools.

The method employed in the private schools is nearly always the oral, and this is the method also of some of the denominational schools. In some of the schools of both cla.s.ses manual training and instruction in trades are given to an extent.

FOOTNOTES:

[305] There have been a number of private schools at various times, perhaps a score or more, which have been discontinued--besides those which were the nuclei of the state inst.i.tutions. There are, moreover, several private schools for the hard of hearing, where instruction and practice are offered in lip-reading, and attended for the most part by adults.

[306] Thus in the Michigan Evangelical Lutheran Inst.i.tute, where the minimum fee is $10 a month, we are advised that only two or three pay the full amount. In St. John's Inst.i.tute of Wisconsin, where $12 a month is asked, we are advised that the officials are "contented with whatever part of this sum the parents or guardians can pay". Voluntary contributions likewise do not always prove large. Of the Immaculate Conception Inst.i.tution of St. Louis, we are advised that private contributions are "too meagre to support one child". The industry of the Sisters often adds much for the maintenance of the Catholic schools.

[307] Another such home is in Philadelphia, but is now a state inst.i.tution.

[308] To the Sarah Fuller Home the state of Ma.s.sachusetts allows $250 _per capita_ for some of the children.

[309] At Lead, South Dakota, and Macon, Georgia.

CHAPTER XIII

THE NATIONAL COLLEGE

After our review of the various schools that have been created for the deaf in the United States, we come to what may be regarded as the culminative feature in the provision for their instruction--an inst.i.tution for their higher education. In this particular the work in America stands unique among the nations of the world. This inst.i.tution is Gallaudet College--named after the founder of the first school--which is maintained at Was.h.i.+ngton by the national government, and is open to all the deaf of the country. We have seen how the national government has rendered very distinct aid in the work of the education of the deaf; but in establis.h.i.+ng the college it has gone far beyond this, and by this act may be said to have placed the capstone upon the structure of their education.

This college has resulted from a school which was established in the District of Columbia in 1857, known as the Kendall School. Not long after Congress was asked to create an inst.i.tution for the higher education of the deaf as well, and to include all the country. No little interest was aroused in the matter, and zealous advocates appeared to present the claims of the new undertaking. The chief objection was the lack of precedent, while with some members of Congress the idea seemed strange of conferring college degrees upon the deaf.

Opposition, however, did not prove strong, and the measure was finally enacted in 1864 by a practically unanimous vote.[310]

Thus was the college established, and Congress continues regularly to provide for it, together with the Kendall School, both being known as the Columbia Inst.i.tution for the Deaf. In the college there are now provided one hundred full scholars.h.i.+ps for students from the several states of the Union.[311]

It is not surprising that this action on the part of Congress should have been held without a precedent. In no other instance has the national government attempted to make provision for the education of any cla.s.s or part of the inhabitants of the different states, beyond certain so-called wards of the nation, as the Indians, for example.

Though the national government has very perceptibly encouraged learning in many ways,[312] yet direct provision for the education of the youth of the several commonwealths has universally been regarded as their sole prerogative. In thus establis.h.i.+ng a college for certain residents of the various states, the federal government has done something that stands out by itself. Though the reason lies in the fact that no other means for the higher education of the deaf seemed at hand, it would appear that thereby the government has signally favored the deaf, as it indeed has; and in taking under its immediate direction this higher education of the deaf, the national government has won the grat.i.tude of them all.

FOOTNOTES:

[310] See E. M. Gallaudet, "Address in behalf of Columbia Inst.i.tution,"

1858; Inauguration of the College for the Deaf and Dumb, 1864; Report of Columbia Inst.i.tution, 1866; 1868, p. 104; 1889; 1000, p. 16; 1892; Proceedings of Alumni a.s.sociation of Gallaudet College, 1889-1899, p.

55; History of Charities in District of Columbia, 1898, part 3; _Annals_, xiv., 1869, p. 183; xix., 1874, p. 134; lvi., 1911, p. 184; _Journal of Social Science_, vi., 1874, p. 160; _Scribner's Magazine_, iii., 1872, p. 727; _Harper's Magazine_, lxix., 1884, p. 181; _Review of Reviews_, xvi., 1897, p. 57. The college was considerably aided in its first few years by private contributions. The first president was Edward Miner Gallaudet, son of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, who served more than fifty years.

[311] The number was at first small, and has gradually been increased to 100. It has also been suggested that the states a.s.sist in providing scholars.h.i.+ps. Report of Columbia Inst.i.tution, 1876, p. 20.

[312] This is done, for instance, in the several bureaus established for investigation and the dissemination of knowledge, and in the grants of land for the benefit of agricultural colleges or state universities.

CHAPTER XIV

PROVISION FOR EDUCATION BY STATES

Having now considered the plan and organization of the several kinds of schools for the deaf in America, namely, the inst.i.tutions, the day schools, the private schools and the national college, we proceed in this chapter to examine the work in the several states individually, and to note to what extent and in what manner the education of the deaf has been provided for in each.

_Alabama._ A private school was started near Montgomery in 1854, but was discontinued after one or two years. The state school was established at Talladega in 1858.[313] In 1891[314] a school was created for the colored deaf and blind. The schools are governed by a board of thirteen members, including the governor and the superintendent of public instruction.[315]