Thursday, November 08, 2007
Deaf Education: David VS Goliath
Swedes were a David who managed to infiltrate a Goliath of a system for their deaf citizens. Although Americans are a little bigger in our David, our Goliath is even bigger; however, the American David still could win!
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14 comments:
HAND WAVES!!!! WELCOME BACK, CY!!!!!!!!!!! BEEN TOO LONG!!!
Anyway, great vlog- full of good pointers!!!!!!
One thing- who is the "Goliath"?? Methinks it's the AGBAD that keeps telling parents that their kids can go to ANY public school setting and "succeed." Hogwash!
:) Loved your analogy... yeah we are Davids (not my name, please!) but we shall prevail if only we WORK TOGETHER and FOCUS on CHILDREN'S RIGHTS!
Comrade!!!!
DE
DE,
LOL. The David I was referring was to the legend of David and Goliath. You just happen to have the same name - forgive the unintentional pun!
I don't know if AGBAD is the Goliath...unless they're in the pockets of these on Captiol Hill. IDEA started the whole thing of the domino effect where the majority of our deaf children are pulled out of deaf schools and end up in local public school systems, being taken away their basic right of access to full communication. Was IDEA (PL 142) AGBAD's initiative? If not, then whose? Indeed, AGBAD promotes oralism, but IDEA was a federally sanctioned bill/law. So, who chaired the committee that pushed this bill through both houses and all that...that is the Goliath we gotta fight. It gotta be somebody's project on Captiol Hill. Bills usually get on floor with heavy sponsorships/support/lobbying and piggy backing by certain individuals. Political stuff. Boring stuff but huge impact on us, nonetheless.
Indeed - AGBAD would say oralism would make possible for children to succeed in their local public schools whereas enrolling them at the deaf school won't. It sounds logical but logic doesn't always match reality.
It's been 30 years since IDEA went into effect and it's been proven a failure...yet nobody is doing anything to remedy it.
Welcome back after a long time for a while. Bring your viewpoint still is alive I want to know! You are right about IDEA which is blamed for causing bad education of the Deaf and lack of recogizing access to sign language or ASL. Need to form a new organization which is not easy! Your analogy is very simple and subtle! Excellent rhetoric for giving a picture of David vs Goliath!!!
1977, that would be the first year it went in full force.
I remembered it too well, way too well.
The plan was laid out in full detail in 1974 on a wall at Oregon School for the Deaf - in vivid DETAILS.
The details were very chilling and it outraged one certain student so much that he ripped the plan wallpaper off the wall and ripped in pieces. He got punished for that.
Looking back, I guess it didn't take a dumb student to figure it out.
It was about that time as soon as the law was passed and signed into effect, it prompted in a surprise announcement of early retirement of Dr. Marvin Clatterbuck from OSD.
He must have guessed that the PL 94-142 would lead to the ruins of so many students.
Having read his autobiography as told to his granddaughter nearly 30 years later (he died in 2006) only then did I realized he knew the bad things going to come out of the law and knew it would be a massive uphill battle to try to wake up so many naive Deaf people to the dangers of the law.
Now we know how had PL 94-142 had been for 30 years. The latest version now prohibit removal of any students from Deaf schools if they are successful and place in public schools, if the parents say they stay in deaf schools rather than "mainstream".
I am seeing trends toward dismantling the so-called mainstreaming programs at least in 3 states now.
back to Dr. Clatterbuck, he had been pro-active in getting deaf students to go to OSD rather than public schools for more than 40 years, constantly expanding and improving the school to get it to be equal or better than public schools. The PL 94-142 devastated the school so much that it is now struggling to recover.
Greetings Cy!!!
I am glad that you are back! I areed with all of your points. Maybe there are 2 or 3 Golaiths here in USA:
1. AGBAD
2. Capitol Hill
3. Maybe Parent Council for Deaf Education, also known as PCDE, is a non-profit organisation based in NSW and dedicated to supporting parents of deaf children. PCDE aims to provide families with independent and unbiased information and support. PCDE collaborates with parents, professionals, other organisations and Government departments to promote equity of access to services and opportunities for families of deaf and hearing impaired children, irrespective of their chosen method of communication.
PCDE has undergone major organisational changes in 2006. We have new management and a renewed excitement about creating a proactive and relevant organisation for all NSW families.
Don't know about this PCDE because something wrong with that internet.
Good to see you back, Cy!!!
Cy,
Glad you are back. I TOTALLY agree with you. Great analogy!
You mentioned IDEA is a failure. 30 years and I wonder if people who did set up IDEA notice that?
JRB
The IDEA is a big blunder. I hear that one of people helping prompt the IDEA was a deaf educator in 1970s.
Now Dr. Thomas Klumina (sp.?),
director of research at Gallaudet,
says that it was 80% of deaf children attended residential
schools. Now the percentage has
flip-flopped to mainstream schools, thus leaving 10% of deaf
children in residential schools.
I predict that some residential
schools will be ordered to be closed by state governors. I do
not think it will happen in
California, but it will happen
in other states.
Meaning what? Deaf teachers may
lose their teaching positions in
residential schools and may have to teach in mainstream schools
or change their careers.
Off on a tangent, more and more
students sign like interpreters
because that is where they have
picked up the style at mainstream
schools.
Oh, the utter irony of the LRE language! The very arena (mainstram schools) that was seen as the least restrictive turns out to be more restrictive than a school for the deaf. Stupid lawyers! And even more stupid so-called deaf educators sitting in their white towers not knowing any better and guide the lawyers!
Hi Cy,
Amen to what you said! Well done vlog of yours! Yea, I am aware of Sweden's education system as I did some research and interviewed one student from there during our college days.
I would not mind being the spokeswoman to bring this issue to the America's attention. Umm, even go to the captiol of D.C. to confront with the lawmakers to make the Deaf Children's Rights be heard. Just let me know.
Keep up with great vlogs of yours.
Cheers,
Ms. Katrina
Wow, I like Swedish system that hearing aid isn't required. Mask of Benevolence says that many of Swedish teachers for Deaf pupils are Deaf, so they can read pupils' eyes better to know their strength and weak. It also says that 5th graders there can read poem. I enjoy your vlog.
David Samuelson,
Yes, having worked at OSD before, I can imagine the huge change from the old time to the time when IDEA went into effect. I can see the gap between older OSD graduates and the younger generations in their levels of academia.
I see that in many other schools for the deaf, as well. IDEA went into effect at my alma mater around 1978 I think. That was when I went to an IEP meeting for the first time and they discussed whether I should wear hearing aid. My dad told them to ask ME. I said no. My dad said, "There you go." LOL. From that day on, I never wore hearing aid again. But I know many parents don't ask their children if they want to wear and put that in IEP, basically forcing their children to wear hearing aids and attend speech therapy twice a week whether these servic es benefit them or not. You know this story...
Well, David, they managed to sneak in IDEA on us - how do you propose to show them that IDEA PL 94-142 (thanks for the subtle hint that I forgot to include "94") is a dismissal failure and its time to give it a boot?
Anonymous,
Yes, many states want to close residential schools for the deaf, but the thing is, they are still in demand for that 10% who could not succeed in mainstreamed settings. That is how most schools for the deaf stay open for the past 10 years when the trend begun in attempts to close the schools. So far only Iowa or Nebraska (I always get those confused) and one campus in NC closed. I hear the Columbia campus in MD closed - thats only for K-6. I assume these kids now attend MSD. NC had 3...they now have 2. Idaho is in danger of closing but so far they're still in business thanks to some creativity on the part of the adminstration...
For AZ, the Tucson campus is shrinking due to forming regional schools in rural areas for our Native Americans who don't want to send their children to Tucson campus becaause they see that in the older generations, they are more "white" than "Indians." They want their children to stay "Indians."
However, the Phoenix campus is actually growing - the first time in history, we squeezed past the 300 enrollment mark since opening in 1967 and we have 100 on waiting list because we don't have space...our new building for middle and high school is under construction but when the building opens in Aug '08, there will be additional 100 students.
CSDR is also growing because the Governor's office is now closing deaf programs in many public school systems due to inefficency and failures to comply to NCLB laws. I understand they grew by around 100 students this fall. More are expected to enroll in the next couple of years as schools close down in Southern CA.
wow this reminds me alot of the movie sicko- in many ways it is symmetrical to that movie.
Posietea,
Can you comment more on how my vlog parallels to Michael Moore's movie "Sicko"?
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