Please read the excerpt below and tell me what it tells you.
"Bell placed assimilation into the hearing world above the mental development and professional training of the deaf. 'If we have the mental condition of the child alone in view, without reference to language, no language will reach the mind like the language of signs.' But that could not be the main view because 'the main object of the education of the deaf is to fit them to live in the world of a hearing-speaking people.' When the conference of principals meeting in Minnesota placed on its agenda the question 'What is the importance of speech to the deaf?' Bell was flabbergasted: 'I am astonished. 'I am pained....What is the object of the education of the deaf and dumb if it is not to set them in communication with the world?'
Gallaudet: 'That is one object but a small part of it.'
Bell: 'That is one object and the greatest of all objects.'"
When the Mind Hears : A History of the Deaf,
Lane, Harlan, 1984, pp. 365
i object to AG Bell's greatest object(ive)
ReplyDeletephew i aint alone cuz i look to my left and to my right and behind and a head of me and there is a whole crew of folks singing the same tune
not cool AG Bell (man & co.) not cool
ICED 2010 new era proclaimed this
UN CRDP resolved this
all me pals who were raised oral / aural-ONLY have sung this soooo
who has truly been deaf & dumb here
this is ourstories (not HIStory or HERstory) this is OURstories. stand up and shout out and be heard folks
this pattern is real ole and its time it got broken
(crap - i hope my comment dont have a longer word count than ur entry!)
peace
patti
Bell (the man and the co.) was and are English-Only extremists!
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me, with the words quoted above, Bell was of the belief that speaking and hearing is the only way to communicate with others in this world, or at least he wanted to believe it was so. Because of that, he had a restrained view in seeing the importance of developing the deaf pupil's mind and educating them in the way of acquiring knowledge through the least restrictive means. In other words, through a means that the pupil may easily process and store information for the sake of strengthening that processor, the pupils brain.
ReplyDeletea monolingual mind is just that, and it is weaker than the mind that has a multilingual processor.
(My Declarative Statement!)
A good example of this can be viewed in the way that a monolingual mind has a limited scope on culture and diversity because it can only acquire information based on such through their only language.
As a result, nationalism is born.
Take Russia or China or USA.
Those are some examples.
That was and is Bell's (the man and co) objective.
To make productive citizens out of the deaf and hard of hearing for the sake and benefit of ignorant money hungry nationalists who don't give a dook about variety and diversity.
AGBell, being the man of his time makes me wonder what his detractors, his opposites were saying during these times? I cannot fathom one singular individual having that much power. Anyone know what the opposite camp was doing/thinking during this time?
ReplyDeleteTousi
Money is power and power is money. This is what Bell had that the opposite camp was not privileged with.
ReplyDeleteWhen Bell patented the telephone, he was awarded the Volta Prize of 50,000 francs in 1880 which was the same year the Milan convention took place. Bell used this power to organize a convention of like minded folks from all over the world in order to achieve the desired consensus:
"The congress, considering the incontestable superiority of speech over signs for restoring the deaf-mute to society and for giving him a more perfect knowledge of language, declares that it maintains the conclusions of the Milan congress."
"A letter from the deaf section was read proposing that they present their review by the hearing , and vice versa, in a joint session. Ladreit de Lacharriere, refused, stating that it would be a waste of time since there was no easy and useful way for the two sections to meet together. Gallaudet rose with trembling rage, 'If I am in the minority of the hearing section, I am in the majority in the section of the deaf, and proud of it. It is inadmissible that you refuse to speak with the deaf. They have as much awareness of their rights, as much discernment, and as much determination as you do! They are the first to be affected by these proceedings, they have the right to be heard. I protest your attitude'"
When the Mind Hears : A History of the Deaf
Lane, Harlan, 1984, pp. 412
And this continues to this day.......I just have no words....
ReplyDeleteTousi
Don, let's substitute "speech" for English. Speaking and English are not the same thing. Just to put on record that Bell was about speech and his organization added "hearing" years later. A command of reading and written English was secondary to speaking.
ReplyDeleteNot only did the Volta prize establish AGBADHH, a substantial portion of the man's royalties from his "invention" also goes to support it.
Just for our information, today's equivalent of the $50,000 prize is...$1,080,000.00!! (see website at http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/)
1.08 MILLION DOLLARS certainly is a lot of TALK.
well, i do declare - that is mighty clear, eh?
ReplyDeleteas in the verity is clarity varity
TU
"Butterfly in the sky
I can go twice as high
Take a look
It's in a book
A Reading Rainbow"
that there is a GOOD book so thank u for cracking it open and quoting from it Jeffrey
ya got me thinking - [grrr u] - so ill put up a bit more from that there good book over at people of the eye - cuz it is a long bit but very important
for now i thank u and leave ya a link to a tune that sings true about the WE of things which leaves me with some hope for the wee things
it also shows the linguistic diversity u were speaking of as it has English and Spanish subtitles & are from concerts in 2 different countries - wow! diversity rocks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUJd8zNiWao
(in france)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKqi8ZDIupE
(in south korea)
Tousi - i know our paths have crossed a bit on the net - but care to do a bit of an intro as to who is u? thanks
peace,
patti
ya hoo u put up the other quotes from EMG in the newest entry - a Cup of Honesty to which i thank ye
ReplyDeletepeace,
patti
Lets play a game...
ReplyDeleteSpeech
Writing
Reading
Signing
ASL
Does this still happen? Putting a 100% accessible language in the last slot for a deaf child?
Yes, because ASL is not a ~required~ language class in most deaf programs.
How would people respond if English classes were no longer a requirement in our schools for our hearing students? That they could talk however they wanted as long they got their homework done? That is deaf education TODAY.
Yup.ThankYou.Mr.AGBell.ExcellentObjective!