Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-12

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deavors. the American institutions are not
hampered. as in the case of many European
schools. bv dependence upon private chari-
ty. And vet the general public falls into
the error Of Classifying the schools for the
deaf with charitable and reformstory insti-
tutions and asylums for the insane.
NOT A CHARITY
The education of the deafat the publicex-
pense is no more q charity than the oppor-
tunitles afforded the hearing child under our
public school system. The injury wrought
upon the deaf by applying the term asylum
to their schools is considerable. Not in
frequently people look upon the institutions
as places where the deaf are kept somewhat
after the manner Of keeping the insane or
idiotic, or if schools at all, yet those whose
dispensations are charitable. 1t can readily
be seen how repulsive such places must be
TO person of refined, delicate Sensibllities,
and doubtless there are many deaf children
who are deprived by these unjust notions OF
the benefits such schools offer them. 1nSti-
tutions for the deaf are schools and schools
only. and virtually part of the public
school system. Deaf children come TO them
because special methods must be pursued in
their instruction. They cannot be taught
by the ordinary methods of the public
schools. and to establish school for them
In every district would be obviously i'm
practicable and expensive. 1t being due
the children of deaf parents, who paw taxes
for the maintenance of public schools for
hearing children, that the State provide ad-
eouate means for the education of their deaf
children, such children are brought to-
al adr sd &c
cheaper and more practicable in every way
to do this.
The false views of the public on this sub
ject operates very strongly against the deaf
In the eyes of many people stigma rests
on the deaf child as soon as he enters the
school. He is often regarded and spoken of
in the same category as the wards ofeharity.
This is q most uni Just sentiment in addition
to their physicnl misfortune, which gradu-
ates Of our schools have to contend against
Aside from a slight defect in language some
times noticeable, and which is also common
to foreigners who have acquired the lam
guage, there is not whit of difference be-
tween the deaf and the hearing, with the ex-
eeption that being deaf they seem rather
quiet in public. They have the same natures
and feelings. They are men and women deaf
either from birth or through some illness,
and yet in q majority of cases are able to
speak intelligibly and to readily read from
the lips what is said to them. In many in
stances they are educated to very high de-
gree. and become useful members of society,
honest, peaceful and law abiding.
NOT PROPERLY ESTIMATEn.
According to their education and eapabil-
titles we find them successfully pursuing the
same occupations followed by the hearing,
the more highly educated among them
adorning many of the learned professions,
in which they have earned regulations as
teachers, elergymen, essayists, chemists,
lawyers, editors and artists, as well as in the
marts of trade. In every trade or profession
they engage, with one verv notable excep-
tion, they command remuneration according
to their merits and abilities. The excep-
ton, and q very anomalous one at that,
exists in schools for the deaf, where the most
experienced deaf teachers, in many instances
college graduates and distinguished scholars,
are ranked in compensation below the most
mediocre hearing instructor.
The mode of life Of the deaf is very much
like that of those who hear. They have
their societies and social clubs, their balls,
parties and picnics-for the deaf can dance,
and WELL too-their conventions, lectures
and debates, in which the beautiful Ian
guage of signs has full sway. They have
the same interest in politics as other people,
and are Democrats, Republicans and Pro-
hibitionists, as the case may be.
Thus they live, and were the general pub
lie to overcome the absurd notions they en-
tertain respecting them, the deaf would rise
to high plane in the public estimation;
vould be justly credited with overcoming
almost insurmountable obstacles in obtain
ing knowledge of the mother language, in
eomprehending the idea of God and their
duty to their fellow men. 1t is the hope OF
educating the public to a sense of what they
are that the future holds out to them goal
they are striving for, and which only the
indifference or prejudice of the public at
large can keep them from obtaining.
THOMAS f. Fox,
New York Institution for the Instruction Of
the Deaf and Dumb.