The Deaf | Page 3

THE SCHOOLS 268
The Proportion of the Deaf in the Schools--The Need of Compulsory
Education Laws for the Deaf--Present Extent of Compulsory Education
Laws.
XIX. METHODS OF INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS 277
The Use of Signs as a Means of Communication--Rise and Growth of
the Oral Movement--Present Methods of Instruction--Courses of Study
and Gradations of Pupils--Industrial Training in the Schools.
XX. COST TO THE STATE FOR EDUCATION 293
Value of the Property Used for the Education of the Deaf--Cost of the
Maintenance of the Schools--Form of Public Appropriations--Cost to
the State for Each Pupil.
XXI. PUBLIC DONATIONS OF LAND TO SCHOOLS 299
Grants by the National Government--Grants by the States--Grants by
Cities or Citizens.
XXII. PRIVATE BENEFACTIONS TO SCHOOLS 303
Donations of Money--Gifts for Pupils--Present Tendencies of Private
Benefactions.
XXIII. CONCLUSIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE WORK FOR
THE DEAF IN AMERICA 309
APPENDIX A 325
TABLE WITH RESPECT TO HOMES FOR THE DEAF IN
AMERICA.

APPENDIX B 326
TABLES WITH RESPECT TO SCHOOLS FOR THE DEAF IN
AMERICA.
I. PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 326 II. PUBLIC DAY SCHOOLS 329 III.
DENOMINATIONAL AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS 331
INDEX 333

INTRODUCTION
Society as a whole knows little of the deaf, or the so-called deaf and
dumb. They do not form a large part of the population, and many
people seldom come in contact with them. Their affliction to a great
extent removes them from the usual avenues of intercourse with men
and debars them from many of the social activities of life, all tending to
make the deaf more or less a class apart in the community. They would
seem, then, to have received separate treatment, as a section not wholly
absorbed and lost in the general population, but in a measure standing
out and differentiated from the rest of their kind. Thus it comes that
society has to take notice of them. By reason of their condition certain
duties are called forth respecting them, and certain provision has to be
made for them.
The object of the present study of the deaf is to consider primarily the
attitude of society or the state in America towards them, the duties it
has recognized in respect to them, the status it has created for them, and
the extent and forms, as well as the adequacy and correctness, of this
treatment. Hence in our study of the problems of the deaf, the approach
is not to be by the way of medicine, or of law, or of education, though
all these aspects will be necessarily touched upon. Nor is our study to
deal with this class as a problem of psychology or of mental or physical
abnormality, though more or less consideration will have to be given to
these points. Nor yet again are we to concern ourselves principally with
what is known as the "human interest" question, though we should be

much disappointed if there were not found an abundance of human
interest in what we shall have to consider. Rather, then, we are to
regard the deaf as certain components of the state who demand
classification and attention in its machinery of organization. Our
attitude is thus that of the social economist, and the object of our
treatment is a part or section of the community in its relation to the
greater and more solidified body of society.
More particularly, our purpose is twofold. We first consider the deaf,
who they are, and their place in society, and then examine the one great
form of treatment which the state gives, namely, the making of
provision for their education. This we have attempted to do in two parts,
Part I treating of the position of the deaf in society, and Part II of the
provisions made for their education. As we shall find, the special care
of the state for the deaf to-day has assumed practically this one form.
Means of education are extended to all the state's deaf children, and
with this its attention for the most part ceases. It has come to be seen
that after they have received an education, they deserve or require little
further aid or concern. But it has not always been the policy of the state
to allow to the deaf the realization that they form in its citizenship an
element able to look out for themselves, and demanding little of its
special oversight. They have a story full of interest to tell, for the way
of the deaf to the attainment of this position has been long and tortuous,
being first looked upon as wards, and then by slow gradations coming
to the full rights and responsibilities of citizenship. In this final stage,
where the state provides education for the deaf only as it provides it for
all others, and attempts little beyond, the deaf find themselves on a
level