Teaching from the Heart and Soul: The Robert F. Panara Story

Mending Wall

124 Mending Wall Change was indeed on Bob’s horizon. In early November 1965, he received a letter from John Gardner, U.S. secretary of education , inviting him to serve on a National Advisory Board for the establishment of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), a new college being planned with an emphasis on technical and vocational education for deaf students. Secretary Gardner explained that the group being formed was composed of national leaders in the education of the deaf and in the fields of administration, higher education, industry, and public affairs. Public Law 89-36 had authorized that board to facilitate the establishment, construction, and operation of a postsecondary facility for the technical training and education of deaf persons, and Gardner indicated in his letter that the effectiveness of the entire project would depend on the “advice and counsel” of the “best minds and talent” that could be found.1 In the invitation, Gardner suggested that Bob’s experience and judgment would be “extremely valuable to the work of the Board.”2 Such a college was a dream long held in the Deaf community . For more than a century, deaf people had been calling for more opportunities to pursue technical education.3 Since 1864, Gallaudet College had served as an established tradition of excellence in the field of liberal arts, but this was not enough to satisfy the Deaf community in America. As a faculty member at Gallaudet, Bob had little time to think about whether to accept this position. The idea of contributing to the establishment of this new college—one that integrated deaf and hearing students—was enticing, but he sensed mixed emotions among his deaf and hearing friends who were loyal to Gallaudet. Undaunted, within a few days he responded to Gardner that he would serve. Progress made by the advisory board was swift. The first two-day session in Washington, D.C., took place within a month after Bob received Gardner’s letter. The second meeting was convened in Los Angeles, California, the following month. By February 1966, a conference had been held in Chicago, with thirty-two representatives from twenty-four colleges and universities , all interested in sponsoring NTID. At the conference, the representatives were educated about the significant challenges that they would encounter in effecting a transition from their institutions’ current populations of hearing students to a “changing clientele” that included a substantial number of deaf students. Bob Panara’s role on the board was as an experienced educator of deaf students at both high school and college levels. He had a profound impact on the discussions, drawing from his personal experiences to help the other members understand the impact of deafness on learning. Despite the progress, strong and diverse attitudes nearly aborted the NTID project during the early months of the National Advisory Board’s work. The Mending Wall 125 126 Teaching from the Heart and Soul pessimism found in a national commission document, known as the Babbidge Report, in particular, planted doubts in the minds of a number of board members about the success experienced to date by educators of deaf students. One concern focused on the purpose of NTID. Some educators in schools serving deaf students stressed the need for “vocational” education . Baird, who came from a technical facility, spent considerable time clarifying the difference between “technical” and “industrial” education to the board. Other members of the deaf community believed that NTID should focus primarily on fulfilling the needs of the hundreds of students who could not meet the Gallaudet entrance examination requirements or who were unable to remain at Gallaudet until graduation. It was finally made clear that NTID was not to become a fallback trade school for deaf students. The meetings of the board were open to the public, and representatives of the Deaf community attended, including such prominent people as Frederick C. Schreiber of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD), Frank Sullivan from the National Fraternal Society of the Deaf, and Robert Sanderson, who represented Vocational Rehabilitation of Utah. Wherever he went, Bob often felt the heat during behindthe -scenes discussions with other deaf people. During one evening with Deaf community members at a captioned film showing and potluck dinner at Mac Norwood’s house, Fred Schreiber, Alex Fleischmann, and a few other deaf leaders cornered Bob and began harassing him as to what was going on. They wanted to know why...