Show EDUCATION OF DEAF MUTES DR S B R YOUNGS LETTER REPLIED TO editor deseret news the question of deaf mute education has unexpectedly taken rather a more personal turn that I 1 could have wished since dr S B young wrote upon that subject to your paper of the alad dinst though my views have been expressed upon general principles without any invidious reference to individuals dividu divi duals aist alst but I 1 understand the f feelings ingson of dr young in regard to his deaf child and respect them accordingly like many other afflicted parents he longs with the intensity of affect affection lo to hear the voice of his darling child in those tones so dear to him and will spare no pains nor expense to attain that object in so he blinds himself to the extreme labor and difficulty of one system and the more beneficial advantages of other systems upon general principles caples pies 1 it may be said that teat dr young has a perfect right to have his child educated in whatever method seems to him the best and such a right I 1 concede to him but when he assumes to dictate to the public as to what methods should be employed in preference to uny any other in the education of deaf mute children he goes a step too far and when as will presently b be e shown the doctor well meaning no doubt but grossly mistaken in his views upon the subject in question demands his own slight knowledge of the merits of each system as a standard for others to follow he assumes more than he has a right to it is a matter of regret that he has brought his little daughters name in connection with the matter no doubt parental enthusiasm led him away but it would have been in better taste not to have cited ones own daughter as an example of what has been done by one system for there will always be two opinions to that How however everi everl I 1 have BO iao desire to refer to that innocent little ge karl r particularly and am willing to be evesse ve she is all her fathers fondest hopes have pictured her to toabe be asin I 1 sincerely trust she will expand under whatever training into a perfect woman to be the pride and joy of her parents still dr young Is not aware of the custom or practice in all institutions in general and the northampton institute in particular ar of correcting all letters sent h home 0 by the pupils yet such Is the fact dr young says his daughter wrote home from school good common sense letters lettera lette iette rj spells every woid correctly and makes no grammatical errors of any kind and then asks triumphantly if that was not satisfactory progress ills daughter may be perfectly able to do all that without any assistance for aught I 1 know to the contrary but dr young in his naive simplicity is not aware of the fact that the pupils at northampton are required to write letters on slates states once every month or oftener that these letters are the then n submitted to the rigid inspection of the teachers and such mistakes as occur in them are corrected for the benefit of the scholars as much as for tor the better understanding of the parents these letters are copied as corrected and sent home all ail allot of dr youngs arguments have the same unstable foundation viz an unfortunate ignorance of the real facts of the case can the blind teach the blind asks dr young as if he considered this an argument areu aren ment that clinches the matter ile he will be surprised to know that the blind does teach the bl blind nd as there Is a blind professor of in music sla sly in the institute for the blind in boston to say nothing of the other occupations in which they are engaged in imparting instruction to others oters it is the habit for the officers to give a blind little girl into the charge of the older blind scholars for the purpose ot instruction in man maD manners ners dressing etc by inference dr young Y 0 se seems en s to consider it absurd a and d unnatural u for a deat deaf mute to teach a deaf mute it would be absurd I 1 grantford grant for an ignorant person to attempt to teach another but why Is it so absurd for an educated deaf deal mute to teach an uneducated deaf mute Is it impossible hear what a better authority says upon this point upon a public occa ocea occasion slon sion president EM EX Gallaudet ph took an opportunity to testify from his intimate knowledge of our class that I 1 educated deaf mutes are naturally inquisitive sagacious and not easily imposed upon they understand with wonderful intuition the needs of their own class better than anyone any one else and can reach th minds or understanding of pupils with surprising facility and inae inika good kol lol rt 0 teachers here nere la is me tae testimony of a veteran educator who has made the subject a lifelong life long study going gi 0 ing to the very foundation eads heads of a all ali 1 8 systems ast ems in london paris vienna br brussels u el and na co copenhagen Copen entla enila gen in search ot of the truth and bothin nothing else and it is his opinion that after a thorough careful investigation of all the various institutions from mam maine e to florida which he had visited in person pers gli b by 0 order r der den of congress that the combined bie bre d system is incomparably the best fitted for tor the vast majority of the class dr young has visited only one institution in the whole world yet he insists upon introducing that one limited system into tats territory ferrit orv ory the beauty of the combined system is this one institution will suffice for the needs of the deaf mutes in this territory whereas if a single system were introduced there will have to be another institution for tor other systems sy steins siems for speech system never was designed for the benefit of all but only of a tor sor for dunate ask bliss miss rogers if it is not so the speech system being individual and particular in its application will render a much larger number of teachers necessary in the ratio of one to every ten pupils while the sign method can be used to advantage with twenty pupils this thib is a point poin t that will be f fully ully appreciated by the taxpayers tax payers dr young has entirely misunderstood my first letter in reference to the u ue use e of signs he seems to take taku it for granted that the end and aim of the combined system is to teach signs and nothing else we use the signs merely as a means to an end or as a method of communicating ideas for the purpose of instructing la in reading writing arithmetic ith etc dr young asks sneeringly sneer ln ay iy if it would not be necessary also for tue parents or brothers and ara sisters of the deaf mute pupil to be taught signs in order to communicate with the child by no means sir sin itis it is only necessary for the learner to understand der stand the meaning of words or phrases by signs and after that he be or she as the case in maybe ay be will theu thru be able to write the same words to the folks folsa at home thome one instance will suffice let t the he expression 11 1 I love my father and mother 11 be the subject lesson then I 1 explain the meaning ef of each word in signs to the pupil the personal edsona pronoun lil lit ill I 1 is explained by y poin pointing I 1 n 9 to myself with the index finger in 6 r a and love is expressed by folding odd ing the hands upon the heart the he seat of all emotions and 0 so o on then the idea is clearly obtained we all know the old axiom 11 when the under standing is reached the memory will take care of itself it is a matter of common remark that it takes but one day for sweet endearing expression by signs while it takes him almost a tean year to obtain a clear idea of the deanin meaning simple as it is deyoung dr young might say that it would be better for the child to learn to speak those words than to write them true but what says the old latin motto vita brevis ars longa under the combined system a pupil learna learns more lin in a single at year a r t than an be e does in three or four years under th the e purely oral orai system dr young young says grays the university has made a mistake in em employing a deaf mute route teacher to deaca the deaf well that is more a matter of taste than of of actual necessity dr young is wedded so fast to the purely u ely cly oral system that like ilke others of tie tte the same idea he overlooks several important facts inc in connection on with the matter the mistake as he calls it very much tn in the same desperate effort that bob ingersoll has made to find out the mistakes of moses is common enough in the east so as to call for no especial wonder or explanation there is a deaf mute superintendent of schools in the vast city of chicago Chi caco caso a deaf mute principal of the cincin cunati day school another at st louis fand jand dakota territory the rome kome new york institute was originally 11 founded and ruled by P prof johnson a deaf mute there is another iother at growing institute in northern new york governed by prof ilider a deaf mute muto superintendent recently our neighboring state of colorado was blessed with a deaf mute principal the list of principals might be longer on e r but enough has been said to biow stow show siow that tha t the mistake is very commons comboni and the university authorities need not want for large illustrious company in ln their misery it will interest dr young to know that the position of the university is perfectly analogous and und as similar as two peas in a pod to that of the national deaf mute college at washington the president dr E 31 gallaudet is a hearing gentleman and as an adjunct to the college there is a primary department for the tic uneducated deaf mutes of the district of columbia under the charge of prof dennison a deaf mute route gentleman of rare ability the cAI cal college lege proper roper is open only to the admission 0 of theeda the educated deaf mutes of the whole world and the president has authority over the prin primary zary department though he never teaches there so it is with the deseret university dr park who dr young needs not be informed can hear and speak has direct control of the deaf mute department and I 1 act under his authority again deyoung dr young labors under another r misapprehension he seems to think that it is the place of the principal to teach articulation to the pupils such tsuch is not the case anywhere there are trained teachers of speech usually usually ladies ladles who devote it vote a little time bac each da day vt to 11 lip pread reading og and they are always termini I teacher leacher sas distinguished irmo titu tim regular corps of instructors dr young lias has overlooked the fact I 1 stated in my first ietter letter that the university does propose to employ a special teacher ot of articulation whenever the state of its funds will allow or rather when there Is a larger numb number er of p pupils cupl Is on hand to warrant it miss al Is holers ers does not teach at all but leaves the work of instruction to her assistants while she directs the management of the institute if dr young will come and spend half halt an hour in our school room he will see enough of the beneficial results of the sign system to modify his harsh opinion of it come and be convinced A cordial invitation is extended to dr young and others interested to witness the success of the popular method in our deaf mute department respectfully H C |