The Brandon news., 1918-02-14

ing and the fight which he is
leading is backed by the whole
student body.
Theodore G. Bilbo. Governor of
Mississippi, has nominated Dr.
R. w. Hall for the position of
Superintendent of the Mississippi
School for the Deaf. We, the
students of the school, are very
much opposed to this appoint
ment and respectfully protest
against it being put into effect,
for these reasons. DR.. Hall is
not competent to perform the
duties of the Superintendent.
To be a successful educator of the
deaf, a man must have long and
thorough training. Without this
training. a hearing person cannot
understand either the deaf them
selves nor the methods used in
their education. DR.. Hall has
not had this training. To edu-
cate or influence person, you
have to be able to speak their
language. All conversation a.
mong the deaf is carried on thru
the medium of the sign language.
It is our mother-tongue and the
only language the deaf-mute
child can understand. DR.. Hall
cannot speak this language and
it would take him from three to
four years to master it we'll
enough to teach the deaf. Aye,
he could never learn to think in
signs, to become fluent in our
language, to put life and express
ion into his gestures, for he is a
grown man, his mind. is already
developed and he will always
think as a hearing person. Dur
ing the years that would elapse
before he mastered this language
all work that would bring him
into contact with the student
body would have to be carried on
through subordinates. During
these years he could have no in
fluence, moral or educational. up
on the students, for he could not
understand us and we could not
understand him.
Our present Superintendent,
Prof. R. S. Dobyns grew up in
the School, his father being Sup
erintendent for thirty-fve years.
AS a boy he lived and played a.
mong the deaf, and from daily
association with them, he learn
ed the sign language almost as
soon as did English. He is one
of the very few hearing persons
who can speak and sign stimuli
taneously. There is no COM
plant whatever against his ad-
ministration and there can be no
doubt as to the success of the
school since it has been under his
charge. He has the love and re-
spect of the entire student body
and it is our earnest desire that
he be retained as Superintendent
of the school. At a mass meet
ing Of the student body, by an
unanimous vote, the students
drew up a petition to the Senate,
stating that we had no complaint
against Mr.. Dobyns or his ad-
ministration, expressing our love
and confidence in him and re-
questing that he be retained for
the good of the school.
Part of the Superintendent
duties is, that he inspect the
classes to see how the pupils are
and whether the
teacher is doing her duty or not,
and that he givelectures and hold
Chapel services once a week. DR..
Hall could not fulfill these duties.
If he went into a class room, he
could not tell what was going on,
whether the pupil was progress
ing or whether the teacher was
satisfactory or not. for he could
not understand the language
used. Likewise he could not
hold Chapel services for the same
good reason and therefore we
could not derive any influence
whatever, from him. He may
be a we'll educated man, but as
long as he cannot transmit it to us
his education can do us no good.
Owing to our isolation, to our
being shut off from the outside
world of the hearing people, from
their viewpoint, we are peculiar
and our habits and customs seem
strange to the average hearing
person. The deaf-mute child
enters school at about the age Of
eight. He has never heard En-
glish and he cannot speak it. 1t
is a foreign language to him. He
NAV have a very bright native