Quote:
Originally Posted by rockdrummer
Thanks loml I also believe that education in general (deaf and hearing) is not only a massive political arena but both are surrounded with contravorsy on teaching methods. Both are also highly competetive (cut throat as you put it) Perhaps more so on the deaf ed side but nevertheless all education in general has these influences. Not much in life is easy and some things are worth going the extra mile for.
My question was more to Jillio's statement
It seems to me that the laws would protect deafies from being overlooked based on a schools "reluctance" to hire. A deaf instructor should be able to teach a hearing or deaf classroom assuming they are qualified and meet the required criteria. I'm sure its much tougher than it sounds but I think that deaf educators with common beliefs in bi-bi teaching methods would have a tremendous impact on the mainstreem school's with these programs. If they are shutting down deaf schools that why not have those teachers apply at mainstream schools for variouis positions including deaf ed programs. They shouldn't be denied simply because they are deaf assuming they meet all other criteria. Also once they are in they can begin to educate the hearing educators on Bilingual-Bicultural deaf education.
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Oh, rd, they never use deafness as the reason for denial. But if you have two entry level teachers applying for the same position, with the same education, within a public school system (even a self contained program, it will be the hearing applicant rather than the deaf, that is hired the majority of the time, even though the it would make more sense to hire a deaf educator to teach deaf children. The reason hinges on administrative issues outside the functions of a classroom teacher. That teacher would be better able to communicate with her students, but it would inconvienince the rest of the hearing staff and faculty to communicate with her. The concern, quite often, is not the best classroom situation.
And I do agree...they could have a tremendous impact on mainstream education. This is another area that needs advocacy badly. And, hand in hand, would be the need to educate parents on the ability of a deaf educator to provide an excellent educational atmosphere for their child. I will probably be lambasted for this next statement, but too many hearing parents are once agian becoming so focused on oral methods that they are unwilling to perrmit a deaf educator to instruct their child becasue they do no believe a deaf personw ould provide their child with fluent models of speech. Not to matter that they could provide fluent models of English in other forms...it is the speech skills that are the priorty. In fact, not long ago in another thread, a parent out right made the statement that they did not want a deaf teacher because their child was oral and the deaf teacher would not provide good examples for spoken language.