XVII

ORGANIZED EFFORTS BY PARENTS TO OBTAIN BETTER EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS

It should be possible for every taxpayer in every state who has a deaf child and who has not the means or the wish to place that child in a private school, to have the child educated in a free public school as completely by the speech method as his hearing children are educated by that method.  He should not be compelled to send his child out of the state or else subject him to the influence of signs and finger spelling, with the probability that he will leave school a deaf mute.  Unfortunately, in many states, this is not possible at present.  But if the parents of deaf children would organize themselves into “Parents’ Associations” and send representatives to the governors and legislative committees; and arrange for demonstrations by orally educated deaf children from pure oral schools; and carry on an active campaign of enlightenment and of agitation, the present state of affairs would soon cease to exist.

I wish to make an urgent plea for the energetic efforts of all parents of deaf children to improve the speech-teaching conditions in their respective localities.  At present, very far from all that is possible is being done to give deaf children a ready command of spoken English, and a working ability to understand when spoken to.  The persons who have the most at stake in this matter, and who should be most active and persistent in demanding from the school authorities and legislatures better facilities for the acquisition of speech by deaf children, are the parents of those children.  In each locality these parents should organize into “Parents’ Associations.”  These local associations should, in turn, be connected by a statewide organization composed of representatives from each local association.  These state organizations could then be combined by representation in a national organization of all the parents of deaf children in the United States.  Such complete organization once effected, the reasonable demands made in the interests of better results in speech teaching would quickly be complied with by the respective schools and the legislatures or boards of directors that control them.  The associations could induce their local papers to aid in a campaign to educate public opinion by printing facts concerning what is done elsewhere.  If all parents of deaf children only knew what might be accomplished, and were so organized as to permit them to present their wishes forcibly to those able to change conditions, the deaf child would quickly come into his own.

XVIII

A PERSONAL MATTER FOR EACH PARENT