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Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb…
Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons
1) Student's Academics
To everyone in the Connecticut school, it was still unknown that language acquisition is dependent on age
Gallaudet even wanted to have the minimum age of admission to the school raised from nine to twelve
Sign language was not taught at the school. It was expected that the students would simply learn it from each other (which they did)
Curriculum was based on learning to write and understand complex vocabulary and sentence structure in order to better understand spiritual texts
In a report of the directors in 1818, Gallaudet claimed to teach simple lessons on astrology and geography as well as "occasional descriptions" of the world's varied population and different climates, manners, customs and government
2) Staffing
When Laurent Clerc's three year contract ended and he was to return to France, Gallaudet struggled to find teachers who were willing to work in what was considered temporary work, and who were able to master the complexity of sign language which consisted of twenty to thirty thousand signs
Gallaudet was, ironically, opposed to the idea of bringing educators from France
He decided to hire former pupils who were skilled and familiar with the curriculum and who were happy to have work
They were, however, taken advantage of in that they were paid a quarter of what hearing, Yale educated men were offered
They were also mistreated by other teachers at the school and excluded from decision making
3) Student Behavior
Some older male pupils who caused trouble at the school may have been sent because families tended to keep "useful" sons home to work and send their problem children to the school
Gallaudet quickly learned that his paternalism towards students often didn't work because the students already considered themselves to be adults
Gallaudet's plan to address misbehavior included limiting the age that a person can be enrolled and requiring that the students already be familiar with the manual alphabet, penmanship, and the English names of some objects
Despite his attempts, behavior became worse and worse due to the fact that the superintendents never learned to sign
Some male pupils frequently broke out of their dorms and went into town to buy liquor and cakes
4) The Year 1819
Many momentous events occurred in the year 1819
Laurent Clerc married a former pupil of the school, ensuring that he would stay in the United States
An anonymous donor bought a $100 lifetime Directorship for Gallaudet which gave him more input into school policies
The school moves to a larger house, expanding the size of the student body
The Panic of 1819, a financial crisis changed the public's attitude about helping the poor, which was instrumental in the school's policy against tuition assistance
The Missouri Compromise was signed which allowed slavery to spread into new states
An Act of Congress granted the Asylum "a township of land, or a tract of land equal thereto,... in any of the unlocated lands of the United States to which the Indian title has been extinguished"
Gallaudet and the directors of the school intended to sell the land to wealthy southern planters who would turn them into slave camps, in order to support the school's operating expenses