A Hearing's Take on Gallaudet Education 1.1

I feel that it's necessary to publish my post at DeafDC.com for the readers who might not read DeafDC's comments. Here's my full comment:

Carol, regarding your comment, I'd like to say that I'm rejoiced that I'm not alone (as a hearing woman without Deaf background) in this discussion.

You and I had come upon the same conclusion regarding education in Gallaudet and hearing people's education in America. Logical analyzation of this problem is quite an easy task to examine but curiously, some people apparently didn't recognize the nation-wide problem beyond Gallaudet or Deaf schools in America. Gallaudet's standards degradation is not localized as they'd like to admit as their defensive argument is to point out that Gallaudet needs Jane K. Fernandes to resolve the predicament. As in reference to the illiteracy issue, I published a concise comment on standards degradation in America at another weblog [this edited and corrected comment isn't aimed at you but at other person]:

"Truth be told, the illiteracy problem among many hearing people in various countries, especially America, call for national concern. More than you'd admit. Go to Technorati and riffle through their weblogs. You'll come upon the conclusion as I did. I had to admit that my English is weak but only because I spent two and half years studying English. I had to study as I'm residing in the land of English, a language that America chose as a national language. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do", so to speak. I can speak or write four languages. ASL will be my fifth language. French and my homeland's native language are my preferred langauges to speak and write. That said, I had noticed a similar illiteracy problem among different hearing people in various countries. I had given the "naked" NAAL [age 16 and older] statistics a brief glance. The average literacy level among hearing people in America is 5th grade, or most likely 6th grade. Only 13% (per Document) of Americans are in the proficient level [a two percent decreased from 1992 to 2003 in national assessments] but only 53% (per Document) of American are in the Intermediate level [per PDQ, a small but significant percentage increase from 1992 to 2003 in national assessment]. Here's the visual result. Per my experience, out of four languages (or fifth), English is the most difficult language to learn or adopt."

Although, I can't help but wonder why do some people remain noticably silent on the nation-wide education problem in America, including hearing universities while assailing against Deaf schools and Gallaudet with their selective standards degradation argument? That's the $64,000 question. From here, it seems to me that it was just a poorly selective argument. For instance, not many hearing college students are able to understand the philosophical meanings in "The Giver" book. That's a 5-6 grade level book! I daresay the same thing about the challenged book, "The Catcher in the Rye". Not many of them were able to understand Holden Caulfield's cynicism either. By the way, they're two of my favorite American books.

Notwithstanding, you spotted on with "doable" and "good news" comments. I wholeheartedly agree with you. Purging the impotent Gallaudet Administration will be a good start. I learned a few things from the Economic Development course --- next to ASL and Intimate Relationships in a Diverse Society, it's my favorite course --- this semester; the Administration's policies affect the education, management (and more) as a whole. It's mathematically, logically impossible to affect the division individualistically. The less impotent the Administration is, the more efficacious education (and more) will be. Some universities understood the concept of causality [cause-effect] perfectly and they acted upon it. Why can't the Gallaudet Administraion?

And moreover, it's illogical to point the finger at Gallaudet as the sole source of the literacy problem. Tackle the neglections and various problems in mainstreamed and Deaf kindergarten schools and up, including hearing families [lack of communication and neglect issues] beforehand. Some time ago, I was flabbergasted to discover that unlike some European and Scandinavian states, ASL is not a mandatory language for d/Deaf people. There is no room for doubt that the literacy (Below Basic or Basic) problem persisted among d/Deaf people for many years. Acceding to some studies by the renowned linguists with bilingual-biculturalism backgrounds, in some European and Scandinavian states, d/Deaf people can be similar or equal as hearing people in literacy-wise levels in schools, owing to the ameliorated bilingual-biculturalism teaching method and mandatory sign language. Evidently, they are heading in the right way of solving the problem in the Deaf education issue and d/Deaf Americans should take that note into deliberation. The anti-ASL/Deaf culture/Deaf school menality and tantrums is not the solution. It never is, was or never will insomuch as conceivably, they're attacking the wrong source of the literacy problem. It is just a classic willful blindness-like case. Simple logical assessment: Wrong source. Wrong solution. The problem persists ceaselessly.

The American education [both hearing and Deaf] system sorely needs to transform comprehensively inside and out. Like Carol said, it's doable. It's always in our hands to change. Needless to say, we have to stop pointing the finger mindlessly and stop throwing tantrums at ASL, Deaf schools or Gallaudet as the source of literacy problem and act upon the right solution(s) to recondition the education system for better. Think outside the box.

And more importantly; think of our children's future and their ability to communicate in and out of the school milieu, and not our selfish, politicized ideological opinions nor the "woe-is-meism".

Citations[crash reading in two weeks]:

Handbook of the Sociology of Education by Maureen T. Hallinan
Language Processing in Bilingual Children by Ellen Bialystok
The Sociology of Education: A Systematic Analysis by Jeanne H. Ballantine
Two Languages at Work: Bilingual Life on the Production Floor by Tara Goldstein
Inside American Education by Thomas Sowell
NAAL's 1993-2003 national assessment
Sociological and Linguistical columns in the journals

Bonus: With my ASL tutor and Deaf friend, Chris' help, interviewed with d/Deaf children of hearing parents through the Outreach program.


To DeafRead readers who sent me emails, I'll respond in less than a few days. Because of this Homecoming weekend, I'm busy with activites [I'm in the Homecoming committee for decoration and cuisine].

What's new: Picture! Taken by a friend. Loved that picture, looks so natural.