I Fill This Small Space: The Writings of a Deaf Activist

The Role of the Residential School in the Educational Well-Being of Deaf Children

62 The Role of the Residential School in the Educational Well-Being of Deaf Children This is a bittersweet elegy given at the Wyoming School for the Deaf, especially considering the fact that the school closed in June 2001. Subsequently, in 2003, a study revealed that educational placement settings “ . . . account for less than 5% of the difference in achievement, whereas student characteristics account for 25% of the difference, and most of the variance is unaccounted for.”31 So when Newman writes about the primacy of the residential school environment over a mainstreamed setting, we can appreciate his sentiment and nostalgia for a setting that was the source of his greatest learning and the setting where he taught hundreds of students. Iunderstand there is some controversy going on here related to the possible demise of the Wyoming School for the Deaf. What else is new? Ever since I entered the field of education of the deaf, I have never seen a period when there was no controversy. At first it was a question of which was the better way—the oral method or the total communication procedure. Then there were angry nationwide protest marches by deaf people at various state capitals against what was strongly felt was a misconception and a misinterpretation of the mandates of what was then called PL 94–142, especially in the use of the term “Least Restrictive Environment.” Soon afterwards, who can forget the furor caused by the selection of a hearing instead of a deaf president of Gallaudet University. Now we have a split among ourselves related to the use of American Sign Language in infancy and with voice turned off. Presentation, Casper, Wyoming, November 18, 1992 31. Michael S. Stinson and Thomas N. Kluwin, “Educational Consequences of Alternative School Placements,” Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies, Language, and Education (Psychology ), ed. Mark Marschark and Patricia Elizabeth Spencer (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003): 52–64. 63 The California School for the Deaf in Riverside was opened some time in February 1953. What was education of the deaf like in southern California before this school was opened? There were two large day schools and many classes for the deaf—mainly oral—scattered among public schools from the elementary to the high school level. Mainstreaming deaf students was nothing new. It was in effect before the state residential school opened and still is today. I wish you could have been there with me as I taught Mathematics for 20 years at the residential school. It was a revolutionary change for the students in that for the first time there was a critical mass—over 500 students—and they could participate in a wealth of after school activities from boy and girl scouts through drama presentations to varsity sports. I remember one girl screaming to get my attention when she was told I was deaf. It never occurred to her that there was such a thing as a deaf teacher. This girl later came back to be a teacher at the same school from where she graduated. The children who came to the Riverside school for the first time were not only starved for an education via teachers they could follow and understand without strain but also for companionship. I found myself holding an additional period when school was out for there was a bunch of kids so eager to learn and so far back in mathematics . I also remember a group of beautiful and intelligent girls who opted to get married after graduation instead of going on to college. I mention this because it is critical that you understand the repressed normal biological urges these young people had when they were isolated from each other in public schools. It is critical that in the educational well-being of deaf children we take into account their thoughts and feelings and sense of self esteem. Of course, in Wyoming there is little or no chance for a critical mass. We must, however, keep in perspective by focusing on the educational well-being of deaf children. One way to do this is to ask ourselves what are hearing children getting and why is it that they don’t have the same language development problems that deaf children have? First and foremost, what hearing children have is direct communication with each other and with their teachers they have peer interaction and adult role models. They have communication access in the auditorium , in the library, in all after school activities. Contrast this with...