Mainstream V Special School

sallylou said:
I don't think that Shel is talking about a political idea. She is trained as a teacher, like I am. I think that she's talking about developmental issues, including emotional and social needs. Teachers and moms are concerned about developmental issues. Shel, could you please clarify?
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Yes, you got that correct. I dont know what politics have to do with anything anyway. :dunno:
 
I guess I have that view because my brother went to a deaf school that was considered sucky and many of his peers grew up with that negative view of themselves but yet, he is getting his Master's. He never had to grow up experiencing the crappy life I did being constantly frustrated and with a negative view of himself as a "broken" hearing person. I absulotely would refuse to do that to a deaf child of mine if I had one.
 
Bottesini said:
Yes , that I know. What I don't think Lighthouse knows the difference is mainstream and a dhh program. That is my point.
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I know the difference. That's why I don't know what you are talking about.

When kids say they are mainstreamed, I find that some of them didn't go to dhh program. I never consider D/HH as mainstreaming unless they share class with hearing people.
 
faire_jour said:
Why wouldn't you give them an interpreter?
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Can a deaf child look at the board while a hearing teacher is showing step by step math, and look at the interpreter at the same time?
I think it is better if the teacher sign, then write on the board, go back to sign to explain... than a child trying to go back and forth from teacher to interpreter back to teacher.
 
faire_jour said:
Why wouldn't you give them an interpreter?
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Ummm I would rather have my child to have full access to language and communication at all times than depending on a person constantly to communicate.
 
shel90 said:
Yes, you got that correct. I dont know what politics have to do with anything anyway. :dunno:
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Politics meaning the idea that all deaf kids should use ASL as their language of instruction and that all deaf children require a specialized education that can only be accomplished at a Deaf bi-bi school.

If my local Deaf school was graduating kids who can't read and write, I would NOT allow my child to go to that school, just because Deaf kids *should* go to Deaf schools.
 
Lighthouse77 said:
Can a deaf child look at the board while a hearing teacher is showing step by step math, and look at the interpreter at the same time?
I think it is better if the teacher sign, then write on the board, go back to sign to explain... than a child trying to go back and forth from teacher to interpreter back to teacher.
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That's why I hated math... ironically I love IT classes because everything was done over e-mails and so on.
 
shel90 said:
Ummm I would rather have my child to have full access to language and communication at all times than depending on a person constantly to communicate.
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The interpreter would provide 100% access.

So, if a particular Deaf school has low expectations and poor results, it is still better than a successful hearing school with an interpreter?
 
I meet a lot of parents who believe in the "competition" educational philosophy. These parents believe that their child must be in the "best" school with the "best" students (as they define them) so that their child will be able to compete for the SAT and university. The schools try to "turn out" PSAT scholarship winners and graduates with high rates of and/or prestigious university acceptance. All of this achievement is great but I'm seeing a lot of burned out kids. Parents of deaf kids are under this same pressure, perhaps even more so. I think that educators and parents need to look at the big picture. The goal is to rear educated, well-adjusted people. Not kids who are burned out before they even graduate from high school.
 
shel90 said:
I guess I have that view because my brother went to a deaf school that was considered sucky and many of his peers grew up with that negative view of themselves but yet, he is getting his Master's. He never had to grow up experiencing the crappy life I did being constantly frustrated and with a negative view of himself as a "broken" hearing person. I absulotely would refuse to do that to a deaf child of mine if I had one.
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You said many of his peers grew up with that negative view of themselves. Are you talking about his peers from the same school? Do you think that they would still have this negative view if the school was not as "sucky"?

You said that you grew up with a negative view as yourself as a "broken" hearing person. It's odd because from the high school students at that specific deaf school, it seems like they don't have faith in themselves anyway. It was depressing to hear "Can deaf people work there?" over and over. (It was Career Day when I visited.)

It seems like you are implying that it doesn't matter what the environment of the school is, as long they have full communication.

Honestly, I think deaf schools are stuck in a horrible cycle. Parents see deaf school options and decide not to put their kids with other kids who are behind and go for other types of education. When the ones who don't do well in the "other types", they fall behind and switch to the deaf school, making up a good percentage of the student population.

You know what would be a good statistic to look at? The demographics of deaf children with deaf parents. Im assuming the majority of deaf parents send their deaf children to deaf schools. In theory, every state deaf school should have 10% with deaf parents. If not, that means deaf parents actually look at the schools and MOVE to another state for a better deaf school.

Edit: I just realized that population of the state does affect that 10% value, but you get the point.
 
sallylou said:
Maybe the sucky school visit had something to do with the fact that Alabama is ranked 48th in education? Don't worry, Mississippi is always around to make you look better.

http://heartland.temp.siteexecutive.com/pdf/23054.pdf
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:D

I am neither confirming nor denying that the school I visited is an Alabama school.

But let's say it is. Seems like some people say it is still okay since communication is all that matters. By the way, just because a state ranks 48th in education does not mean ALL of the schools in that state are bad. One high school near me ranked within the top 2% of the nation in 2008.

All I'm saying is I think hearing parents are given an unnecessary hard time for their choices of putting their deaf child in a hearing school or something other than a deaf school. I just don't think it's that simple/easy to put their child in the nearest deaf school.
 
sallylou said:
I meet a lot of parents who believe in the "competition" educational philosophy. These parents believe that their child must be in the "best" school with the "best" students (as they define them) so that their child will be able to compete for the SAT and university. The schools try to "turn out" PSAT scholarship winners and graduates with high rates of and/or prestigious university acceptance. All of this achievement is great but I'm seeing a lot of burned out kids. Parents of deaf kids are under this same pressure, perhaps even more so. I think that educators and parents need to look at the big picture. The goal is to rear educated, well-adjusted people. Not kids who are burned out before they even graduate from high school.
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My parents were like that. I still feel like I have to be the best at everything and that's not possible.
 
I meet a lot of parents who believe in the "competition" educational philosophy. These parents believe that their child must be in the "best" school with the "best" students (as they define them) so that their child will be able to compete for the SAT and university. The schools try to "turn out" PSAT scholarship winners and graduates with high rates of and/or prestigious university acceptance. All of this achievement is great but I'm seeing a lot of burned out kids. Parents of deaf kids are under this same pressure, perhaps even more so. I think that educators and parents need to look at the big picture. The goal is to rear educated, well-adjusted people. Not kids who are burned out before they even graduate from high school.
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sallylou AMEN! And it's "prestige" acheivement too. It's not even "I'm an enourmous nerd and want to study with the best of the best" sort of thinking. It's " gotta keep up with the Joneses" and send wittle Smashlie to Name Brand School so she can become a High Achiever.
 
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