Evening star., 1898-07-12
than all by the oral. and only a small pro-

have more or less hearing Hearing tubes
and other appliances for helping de1ectlNe
addition are made use Of In the seating
of a class, those with the most hearing
are placed furthest from the teacher. Chill
dren who possess sufficient hearing to be
educated under this method have either
had the power of speech before becoming
deaf or acquire it easily through the aid
of their hearing.
such children, after reasonable term
in school, cease to be deaf mutes in any
sense and should be enumerated n the
census as persons hard of hearing
Under the manual method no attempt is
made to impart the power of speech to
those who lack ft-but through the aid of
the language of signs, the manual alphabet
and writing, the Intelligence of the children
is awakened and developed, and a full
CO mmand of verbal language is given, the
ability to use text books is acquired and
the door is opened to as complete a grasp
of the curriculum of school and college, as
is possible 10 children and youth in tie
possession of all their faculties.
"All the deaf, without exception, may be
educated by this method, the only limita-
tions being their lack of purpose and indus
try, or of mental capacity.
The Oral Method.
There are teachers of the deaf who do
not hesitate to claim that all the deaf may
be educated under the oral method. From
remarks made near the opening of this pa
per you will have understood that my ex-
perience makes it impossible for me to ad-
NIT the justice of this claim.
mo question connected with the educa-
ton of the deaf has received more careful
or prolonged investigation at my hands
athrsia+io +o,oi1,rs 80 ~,isi,d &C. ~ tr
TO seek.
Repeatedly. IN visiting oral schools and
oral classes nave asked that all the
81 Cl''ia 3e aiG" eI 20 , dtouu
familiar hut Of the contents of which 7
was ignorant. Such tests have invariably
disclosed the following condltons:
CERTAIN of the children L would under
STAND fully, others only partially, and quite
proportion not a single word AT my re-
port on THESE lasl the teacher Would ex-
press great surprise ana say, w ny, L un-
oerstood every wore. quite obvious or the
ldct tldt the daily intercourse OF tne class
room gave a meaning 10 What TO a stranger
was glbberlsh. The proportion of children
In an oral school where all classes of the
ueat are received VINO would be stamped
as Iaiiures under such simple test as l
nave described Is by no means small. And
TO these must be added others whose fail
urc would be less marked, but whose sue
cess would be so limited as to suggest
plainly the lnadequacy of the method pur-
sued
In determining then the matter of
methods shall it be said that because only
small portion are capable of success
portion under the oral those two methods
saould be abandoned and the manual alone
e lp!oyed, because unGer 1t alone all the
uea1 can De educated!
A Happy Solution.
.c,,ro,,- ,L,u oo,,..o -.
'Ai7 NouiSe "ouiu pe iai iioiii
wise; ana happlly solution has been
reached in the leading schools of our coun-
try which is at once scientific, practical and
in ba,,,o,,- with so,,,,a ,,ri,o;r,,as 90 "a.
"'>- S'"1N ~ ipie' VI peua-
.e,r,,o ~ ,u..,o - -. =,
" tested. often bv nroloneed trial and that
method applied which is suited to the pe-
culiariIies of each case.
III an amount OF nearing IS found above a
the aIIricIIIar rnatbod ,iie 'hiiu 10 Taught ny
IF promising success in sneech is gained
the oral method is chosen, and when such
success is not attained the manual method
is resorted to.
BY this process in large school the ca
pacity and lack thereof of every child may
be considered and humanely met, and a
system of education carried forward
broader than any single method and intin-
itely more elastic.
This combination of methods is known
In the terms of our professional vocabulary
as the combined system, and at this time
nine-tenths of the deaf children of the
country are being educated hereunder.
In the light of present experience a
the employment of a single method must
be regarded as inadequately equipped for
doing the work that may properly be de-
nanded of 1t. This is the severe but lust
criticism brought against the German
schools as a whole by 500 of their gradu-
ates in their petition to the emperor for re-
form. No success in Individual cases nor
in schools of selected pupils; no enthusiasm
of well-meaning teachers nor of others less
honest, should be allowed to mislead the
public, as it has often done in this matter
NIL,
@"eu'
Lest the language just used should seem
to some unwarranted and therefore I'M
fair will give a rsoartl,. ,,,,hIisba, ,,++or
60 - 80 -
"ii0e liohi one ol tile most prominent IN
structors in Germany, Edward Walther,
director of the Imperial Institution at Ber-
lin Tbous, n s,,,ror,a, oe ,bo oro1 ,,,+h
cd M WaItber ,aas az .ei
claims for ifs ras,,1ts a,1d ~ - t'orI
of coIIdan,na+;or1 g. ,tae - 't,tS "0iu"
:. .sina - i bay.,71' ~ ,r'',EtI ~ uE. -
..b,t r. 5ia .l't - ~ I ne say =
,t IL Iio ti" tIieti opJscI
s! us D to ueeeiSe otneIs- III that ue-
Ueptioh .IW ne, as an honest man WIN nave no
ps,iti s, Iiiust openly anu cahululy con-
80 ne eollihueS, utdI al we can 40 Is
AZ hpeIiect p ~olh- what nature mas laVlsh-
~ DtSloNeu On the nearing person We can