UNM:RSITY OF GEO

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REPORT
BOARD OF VISITORS
TO THE
ACADEMY FOR THE DEAF
MAY 1912
1912

REPORT.
1'0 His Excellency, JOSEPH M. BROWN,
Governor of Georgia.
Sm: The Board of Visitors appointed to inspect the Georgia School for the Deaf gathered at the School at Cave Spring on May 24th and spent the day in the school building and grounds.
rnhe Jegro School located on the hill above the group of buildings for the chool proper was first inspected. We found the place cleanly and well kept. Two teachers instruct the negro children in the simpler branche , writing and arithmetic classes being in recitation when the visit was made.
We recommend that besides the class room work now being done a more systematic and thorough cour e of training in dome tic economy, cooking, ewing, gardening and farm work and manual training, in shoe making, carpentry, and use of tools generally be given to this department, looking to the practical side of life and uited to enable the negroes to make their own living when grown up. The specimen of work inspected, the ewing, garment making and ornamental needlework by the girls, gave sufficient promise of aptitude on the part of the girl for us to urge upon the school an increas'e of effort alonO' till line. No work of any kind seems to be atten;lpted for the boy of this department, and the matter hould not be further overlooked or neglected -unle great 10 of opportunity for good and for
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pl'aeticalresult. may be con ented to by the authorities.
While we found the dormitorie in the negro department cleanly and well kept we found bed in u e that hould be di carded, prings worn out and upplemented with lat that looked mo t uncomfortable. At a small expense thi could all be remedied, and it hould be done at once.
The kitchen and dining room eemed to be in good order and a new infirmary for the ick ha been completed and i in O'ood hape ready for u e when nece sary.
We found a new stand pipe in course of construction that, when completed, will doubtle s give all the water upply for the school needed for laundry, drinking and bathing purpo e , for fire protection and for water motor for electric lighting. Tbi all eem to be wen con tructed and equal to one of the gr ate t phy ical need of the s'chool.
The boiler used for heating and for steam purpo e need to be replaced at once. Tho e now in u. e have done remarkable duty and danger hould be avoided by placing new boiler in po ition a oon a po sibl .
The O'eneral condition of building and ground' wa quite acceptable. While the floors are worn in place there i no immediate need for repair or painting. The dormitorie , dining room and kitchen ('quipment and school rooms are entirely ufficient for the number of pupils now in attendance. There could be many more tudent provided for in the room now acce ible and more pace could be ~til ized, and doubtle will be when the increa e I)f student demand it. ave for the boilers, that hould
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be furni hed at once, there eem no nece ity for greater outlay now for buildings or new pl~nt.
The attendance thi year doe not ipdicate that the chool i meeting, even rea onably well, the needs of all the children of the State ~ho are totally deaf. We recommend that it be made one of the dutie ' of the State chool Superintendent to require ounty
chool Superintendent to ecure the name and adeire se of all deaf childr n of chool aO' in the tate, and report all of the e to the Principal of the chool for the Deaf at Cave prinO'. Thi, in order to put the. chool in touch with all deaf children and enable the Principal to urge upon the people the nece ity for instruction and the advantage to be had and to furni. h them llanks for application to admi ion to the chool.
Our in pe tion of the chool room work of the hildren wa rather hurriedly conducted by the ourteou a i tant princiI aI, ~Ii ~IcDaniel, and may ha\e been too imperfectly made to authorize a full a recommendation a we would prefer to gi e.
The school room work inspected was conducted largely b oral method~, from the kindergarten tyle for the YOlIDO'e t up to ordinary grammar chool oTade. The proce 1 n arily tediou and paiIlfuT and te ting the alma t infinite patience of both teacher and pupil when word, idea and lanO'uaO'e mu t be can trueted and e ta bli hed by uttered
ound without the aid of hearing. The con tant iteration, reiteration, failure, trial, and low improvement cannot but call to mind the process of wearing away a tone by the constant dripping of water. It brings a hearing per on to the que tion offered by the blind Milton, "Doth God exact day labor light denied."
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Can we exact or expect utterance from the child who must give it only by imitation When there is any hearing, or any memory of hearing, or of speech, in children who have lost their hearing early in life, it may be possible to use oral methods with surprising and practical results. Without such conditions the work has' many hopeles features.
It seems to the Board of Visitors that probably much time i pent in the school upon instruction by oral methods that could more profitably be used in the education and development of the mind and powers of the pupil by u ing the hand in sign and spelling upon fingers-manual methods. The manual department has apparently been subordinated to the oral department, which may be a s'erious mistake. The proposition eems to be whether a child shall spend a majority of its school years in acquiring artificial speech but imperfectly, without a correct development of mind and instruction in branches that must be understood, or whether the school effort shall be to develop and instruct the mind, quicken the eyes and give thoroughness' in necessary branches of tudy, without any effort of speech. Tille practicability of chool room speech and lip reading was not demonstrated at all, by the meagre results shown in the imperfectly spoken word. On the play grounds and among the pupils when alone, there were no chatterboxes evident-but signs and finger spelling seemed entirely customary.
This Board, as a body of six average men, doe not presume to dispose summarily of the oral teaching of the deaf upon the ba is of one day's study of the subject. It merely gives' the impressions of the day' in pection of re ult following a year, or a
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erie of years, of thi kind of training hown in the different grades of the school. The recomdendation is that as oon as it becomes evident tpat a child 1 '0 deaf that it may have no suggestion of ound in its ears, or when the child shows no aptitude for speech that it be turned over promptly to the manual department. The educational results are surpri ing when the mind is developed by improved teaching methods in signs, in finger spelling and in writing.
The Board approves heartily the bill now before the Legislature for c~mpulsory education of the deaf, but waS' impressed that the school age, beginning at seven, was entirely out of proportion. If a child is to be orally taught the sooner the work begins the better results would seem possible, and we suggest that pupils be allowed admis~ion to the oral department with con ent of parents as young a 'four years for the kindergarten grades. The general chool age of six, instead of seven, is suggested for a beginning point in other grades. We were impressed also with the absence of older pupil, the average of the upper classes in attendance being very small, as though many were allowed to leave school long before the training is sufficiently complete to be a practical fitting for life work or to have reached a point worthy to be called an education.
The training of girls and boys in the industries was quite commendable. Specimens of finished work and an examination of work in progTess was very satisfactory. Sewing in plain and ornamental work, cutting and fitting, garment making, and embroidery indicated very good instruction. The cooking
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cla seemed well up in thi nece 'ary art. Work in ba ketry, making of hat , and rugs, drawing in charcoal, crayon, and pen and ink for working part of article. to be made, gave evidence of great talent and kill, not alone for it practical but it educative value a well.
Boy are taught printing, carpentry, wood carving, and cabinet work, pecimen' being hown that would do credit to any technical chool. hoe making is taught, but the pupil eem 0 'young and inexperienced that the work appear rather primitive, and the output not up by any mean to the comfort or appearance of shoe now usually worn even by the poorer cIa se .
The State i to be congratulated upon having the services of a great educator, and speciali t in deaf teaching, like Prof. We 'ley O. Oonnor. ince back in the sixtie thi great hearted man ha given hi life to the deaf children of Georgia. Their affection for him, 0 evident at all time , is but proof of hi entire :titne for the position where a a patriarch of old he gather about him tho e children of ilence who come to him to be led into a world of light and knowledge. Hi work and his ugge tions and hi experience of practically half a century are of wonderful value. He i to be commended in the highe t term .
We would deplore any lack of intere t in parent or in deaf children who should enjoy the advantages of Georgia' great chool for the deaf, and can but ound a healthy note of warning to the State along thi line. A decadence of the Georgia School for the Deaf, when the tate has responded 0 liberally
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to it need', would be a calamity we would drrd to con ideI'.
All of which is re pectfully submitted.. C. M. METHVI , Chairman. W. F. CRUSSELLE, Secretary. JOHN C. REESE, B. H. HARDY, E,. R. llTHEWS,
GRAHAM FORRE TER,
Committee.
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