Flip. What is considered rude may be subjective. While I don't consider it rude for people to whisper others might. That is not my problem.
And thank you for re-enforcing my point. We can sit here and speculate all day long about what something might be. For me to be fair I will not draw any conclusions based on speculation. And If I choose to speculate I would rather be optomistic than pessimistic. That doesn't mean I am right or wrong and it doesn't mean we have to agree.
It's too bad those teachers are not here to defend their position. That is if there is a defense.
I think it's possible to find out what is going on here, even if one have to speculate to find out. You have to remember that many of us have a long history of beeing students of or working with those teachers, so it makes it less necessary to speculate than if one have less experience with those teachers. But I find your skeptical standpoint interesting and enriching sometimes. I wouldn't perhaps buy everything a group of people told me either.
But honestly, I feel it's audism in work here, though it's not necessary by ignorance or malicious behavior.
From talking with and asking those teachers, it looks very much like it's a matter of protecting their self esteem. Deaf teachers have sign language, the deaf mind and full interaction with the students. Hearing teachers, from the 70s and 80s have TC and special methods. It's impossibly hard for many of them to understand that what they have found a purpose in doing for 30 years, helping the students that they are passionate about, really just have delayed the students. I know, because when I once questioned the value of special methods and TC and how sign language fit into it all, in front of a group of hearing teachers, the respond was.. full of rage. It was a rage that reminded me of fear and insecurity, and I felt sorry for those teachers.
Using spoken language in front of deaf students, is a way of telling themselves that ASL does not matter that much, and their knowledge in TC and special teaching methods, that makes them competent and valued, matters. If they agreed to start to use ASL all the time, it would go against what they know and have lived for in 30 years.
That's why audism is so hard to get rid of in deaf schools over night, and that's also why those teachers never will come here and defend themselves, because that behavior would threaten their self esteem.
Ok, my subjective viewpoint.