I have a big question

shel90 said:
That is required from the curriculm and I agree with it! Anyone who says that all Deaf schools offer poor education is a liar.

The problem is that we get kids transferred from other programs who have fell so far behind hence the attitude about deaf schools as being a "fall back on". As a result, we have several students with language and cognitive delays from not having full access to language, communication, and the curriculm in those other programs. By supporting that, people are advocating for deaf children to fail and end up with language delays and deficits and then turn around and blame the deaf schools. What a joke.

Using deaf schools as a "fall back on" is a terrible terrible wish for deaf children. They do not deserve that at all.
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I never said "all" i only said SOME. read again.
 
Passivist said:
There is nothing better than putting deaf and hearing on an equal footing, both as children and as adults. We would then perhaps have less ya-boo politics and who is deaf, which is the best language, whatever... that drags the entire community into drawing lines in the sand.

There is no real proof a distinct deaf education has made deaf children more hearing aware, nor vice versa, so you have to teach them alongside each other, there is NO better awareness system. What feeds the dissent are two issues 'Cultural protection stances' and very poor access to integrational education. If we could concentrate on improving the access in mainstream, and then most importantly USING it, instead of adopting the approach We are deaf, you are hearing, the twain cannot meet, we can at best co-exist, then we get nowhere, because the stance is written in stone via separatism and validated by culture.. The mind-set is at fault on both sides of the fence.

Gally has had such bad press a lot deserved. It set itself up as a beacon, then let the flame die out and descend into factionalism. As far as main streaming goes, it's a NEW concept relatively, it is a new approach and alternative to putting all deaf people into one 'special needs' box, let's not make the mistake deaf schools are just there to promote culture, and never educating them to cope anywhere else without huge issue.. The fault was in streaming was undertaken without including the deaf community in how best to move forward and make it work, so the resultant failure of those who couldn't get with it, resulted in an ideology main streaming is wrong, and a new sector of deaf who feel let down..

I don't feel main streaming has yet been given a fair chance to work. As a society we are trying to remove barriers, remove systems that pigeon-hole one sector's lifestyle, to then pitch it against another's when difficulties arise. I am deaf I am not well educated, I cannot communicate much at all with hearing, so, the fault is mainstream, better all deaf together.. Too easy an answer.
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In order to put them on equal footing, they have to have equal access. Equal access is accomplished through education in an environment that best addresses their needs.

Mainstreaming has been given years to show results. It has not managed to do so. Why are we allowing kids to suffer the same deficits they have been shown to suffer in the mainstream?
 
jillio said:
In order to put them on equal footing, they have to have equal access. Equal access is accomplished through education in an environment that best addresses their needs.

Mainstreaming has been given years to show results. It has not managed to do so. Why are we allowing kids to suffer the same deficits they have been shown to suffer in the mainstream?
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Couldn't agree more re the situation access is still so poor. I wouldn't agree the 'best' place then for deaf children is to abandon the mainstream concept or we are back to square one, anyway unlikely to happen so we have to get to grips with mainstream, many dedicated deaf schools are being shut down, the UK I Understand has gone from 74 to 29 in the last 10 years. It's happening, so harking back to the past is (A) NOT going to happen, and (B) Counter productive for our deaf kids, we just have to keep on lobbying the educational systems until our deaf children no longer 'suffer'. We don't really have a choice. Someone suggested home-schooling, so how would THAT Assist peer harmony ? We need to be mindful of parenteral choices as well, they want main streaming.... it isn't all about deaf who have not gained by main stream. Collateral damage ?
 
Passivist said:
Couldn't agree more re the situation access is still so poor. I wouldn't agree the 'best' place then for deaf children is to abandon the mainstream concept or we are back to square one, anyway unlikely to happen so we have to get to grips with mainstream, many dedicated deaf schools are being shut down, the UK I Understand has gone from 74 to 29 in the last 10 years. It's happening, so harking back to the past is (A) NOT going to happen, and (B) Counter productive for our deaf kids, we just have to keep on lobbying the educational systems until our deaf children no longer 'suffer'. We don't really have a choice. Someone suggested home-schooling, so how would THAT Assist peer harmony ? We need to be mindful of parenteral choices as well, they want main streaming.... it isn't all about deaf who have not gained by main stream. Collateral damage ?
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The mainstream is counterproductive for our deaf kids. We will never get the environment they need in a mainstream setting. We may come close if the self contained programs do a lot of improving, but traditional mainstream, by it's very nature, cannot provide the most beneficial learning environment for a deaf child.
 
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