DiscoverDig: A History PodcastThe Battle for Deaf Education: Clashing Methods, Minds, and Cultures in the Nineteenth Century United States
The Battle for Deaf Education: Clashing Methods, Minds, and Cultures in the Nineteenth Century United States

The Battle for Deaf Education: Clashing Methods, Minds, and Cultures in the Nineteenth Century United States

Update: 2024-07-221
Share

Description

Body Series. Episode #2 of 3. In the mid-nineteenth century, a feud erupted between two camps of prominent public intellectuals and thought-leaders in the United States. The results of this feud affected the education, culture, and lives of generations of Americans. And yet, you have probably never heard of it. One the one side, the manualists, who believed that deaf people should be educated in manual methods in the form of sign language. On the other side, the oralists, who believed that deaf people should not use sign, but instead be educated in how to read lips and vocalize spoken English. It might be easy to see this as a just a schism between two pedagogical perspectives - is it better to teach using this method or that method? But this was about much more than educational approaches - instead, it became about the very place of deaf people in United States society. Thinkers and educators had spent decades of the nineteenth century debating the nature of deafness and the deaf mind: could deaf people think and reason without formalized language? Could they tell right from wrong, or were they animal-like? How might deaf people exist in a civil society if they did not share a common language? Were deaf people a distinct cultural group, or disabled individuals who could be assimilated? Today, we’re talking about the history of deaf people in the United States.


Find transcripts and show notes at: www.digpodcast.org

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Comments 
In Channel
loading
00:00
00:00
1.0x

0.5x

0.8x

1.0x

1.25x

1.5x

2.0x

3.0x

Sleep Timer

Off

End of Episode

5 Minutes

10 Minutes

15 Minutes

30 Minutes

45 Minutes

60 Minutes

120 Minutes

The Battle for Deaf Education: Clashing Methods, Minds, and Cultures in the Nineteenth Century United States

The Battle for Deaf Education: Clashing Methods, Minds, and Cultures in the Nineteenth Century United States

Recorded History Podcast Network