Is All Education Created Equal?
Many of us take for granted the education we received as children as well as the education we continue to obtain everyday. We are constantly bombarded with news stations and reports that tells us about school districts that are not up to par completely when it comes to educational standards. These public schools, including many mainstream schools (schools where students with special needs are placed in regular classrooms), are being reevaluated. However, something that is given far less attention and yet, seems to be having more problems then anyone, is the topic of Deaf education in our society today.
It might be surprising to learn that 1/5 of the US population is considered to have a hearing impairment. This is a rather broad term, since it consist of those who have minimal hearing loss, whose who consider themselves hard-of-hearing and those who are D/deaf*.
*Note: The term D/deaf will be used in two contexts here. The word deaf with a lowercase d signifies someone who has significant hearing loss, being either severely or profoundly deaf. This is used much more as a medical term rather then one that describes a group. Using the words Deaf with a capital D is reserved for those who also have significant hearing loss but also consider themselves as part of a community and culture.
Those who consider themselves Deaf in the United States, often use American Sign Language (ASL) as their primary form of communication. Though it is not taught in schools as often as Spanish or French, ASL is the third (3rd) most commonly used language in the United States, just following English and Spanish.
This blog is going to have many purposes. The first and foremost, is to look into the education that our country’s D/deaf students are receiving in schools today and why the numbers are showing that something needs to be reevaluated. Secondly, it is to Bring to point forward that the silent language of the Deaf community needs to be ‘hear’ and understood in order for everyone to get the type of education that this country promises to all its citizens. Finally, it is important that everyone have at least a base idea of what the Deaf community is about, how its members think and feel about certain topics in education and to help prepare all future teachers so that they will be ready to understand where some of their future students may be coming from and what we can do to help them get as much out of their educational experience as possible.
