Abstract This paper discusses the difficulties and challenges educators may face when teaching deaf children. In particular, the paper enumerates the key issues regarding special needs teachers and then examines them from an internal and external perspective. The paper accomplishes this via a thorough examination of available academic literature. In examining the literature, the writer takes into account the internal and external factors that will influence future trends in deafeducation in order to provide an overview of how deafeducation will appear in the future.
Outline:
Shortage of Qualified/Certified Sign Language Interpreters
Closure of State Schools for the Deaf Due to Special Education Funding Issues
Appropriate Education in the Age of Distance Technology vs Vygotsky's Theory
From the Paper "The shortage of teachers for the deaf is an extension of an overall shortage of teachers that is affecting education on a national basis. There are many reasons for these shortages including low salaries and increased stress due to the shortages themselves. The growing shortage is self-perpetuating. The fewer teachers there are to perform daily duties, the more stressed those that are in the profession become. This scenario has prompted several states, such as Wyoming to mandate increased teacher salaries statewide (NEA, 2006). However, salaries alone are not likely to be the single answer to the problem."
Tags: cooperation legislation, teaching certificate, special needs, video socialization
This paper gives an overview of multicultural issues relating to deafeducation in the U.S., identifying relevant issues and citing practical implication of the current research.
Abstract This paper provides a critical review of the peer-reviewed and scholarly literature to identify relevant multicultural issues involved in the education of deaf children in the United States today. A discussion of the practical implications for a deafeducation classroom based on the critical review of the literature and application of the research is provided in the conclusion.
Outline:
Review and Analysis
Background and Overview
DeafEducation in a Multicultural Classroom
Steps to Improve Education in the Deaf Classroom
Conclusions and Implications for Classrooms
From the Paper "In recent years, as deaf adults began participating in and directing the policymaking deliberations concerning the education of deaf children, these longstanding concepts and erroneous assumptions concerning the needs of deaf students were transformed somewhat, but the process has taken longer and required more effort than anyone might have expected. For instance, in recent years, 'Descriptions of deaf children as disabled persons needing auditory and speech rehabilitation began to fade. In their place, descriptions of deaf people as an ethnolinguistic group arose, where the young need 'bilingual education' using ASL as the medium of instruction, not 'special education' using invented or artificial languages or mechanistic methods. This cultural view of deaf people, existing alongside recent realizations of the multicultural nature of contemporary American life, has given rise to a new deaf education pedagogy, termed bilingual-bicultural (or bi-bi) education' (Flood et al., 2005, p. 313). The introduction of these educational techniques has also introduced yet another misconception concerning the education of deaf children. The implications of these trends on education in an increasingly multicultural deaf classroom are discussed further below."
Abstract This paper addresses the impact of mainstreaming deaf children. It sights links between family and child as well as links between child and school. It focuses on specific forms of education for deaf children and the needs each style of learning will address. It favors the inclusion of deaf children while maintaining the uniqueness of the child's deaf community.
From the Paper "Having a child who is deaf is a unique responsibility. Although deafness is generally seen as a disability, the Deaf community is a thriving culture bound by its own language (ASL), "a rich history of art, humour, literature and customs". Parents who discover they have a child who is deaf are faced with a series of life altering decisions unlike any they would make for a hearing child. (For the purpose of this paper, the Parents referred to will specifically, but not exclusively, be hearing parents). Having a child who is deaf in the family causes all previous dynamics to change totally. Parents are faced with choosing how to equip their child to communicate and interact in the family, school, and society. Once communication methods are chosen the parents must decide on the education methods best suited to their unique child. Being aware of the choices and decisions these parents face will make educators more involved and able to give educated suggestions. Understanding the family dynamics, choices and decisions involved in parenting a deaf child is the best way to understand the unique "deaf-abilities" these children bring to the classroom."
Abstract The paper examines the book "A Journey into the Deaf-World" by Harlan Lane, Robert Hoffmeister and Ben Bahan. It discusses how the book covers many technical issues in detail, but the underpinning for all of it is that the Deaf-World is its own unique culture with its own unique language and is every bit as much of a subculture as it is to be African-American or some branch of Hispanic. It looks at how the beliefs of people in the Deaf-World about their culture and language are challenged by people charged with helping them: educators, psychologists, audiologists, social workers and others all tend to think of hearing loss as a disability. It provides a detailed history of sign language and the use of ASL (American Sign Language).
From the Paper "Many people in the Deaf-World object to this view. They know the richness of their language and understand its cultural significance, which the authors broke out into several sections. They note that ASL is a symbol of identity for people in the Deaf-World. In addition, it is the only language they can use to communicate with each other. It binds them together. One fear the Deaf-World has is that forced oral communication will undermine their culture, because it will force deaf people with no sign language skills to talk only with non-deaf people."
Abstract This paper examines how, in today's world, a hearing-impaired child can communicate and learn to enjoy life and the multitude of experiences it has to offer and how the proper and appropriate education of a hearing-impaired child is an issue that has most parents of these children confused and unhappy. In particular, it evaluates whether the "No Child Left Behind" Act sufficiently provides for deaf children and looks at some of the organizations that can help these children find the right form of education.
From the Paper "The system of "Bilingual and Bicultural" education for the deaf is based on the idea that deaf children belong to a Deaf Community, and that the language that they must use in order to communicate effectively will be the "American Sign Language". When deaf children utilize the English language for written as well as verbal communication, and use the American Sign Language wherever necessary, then this demonstrates the fact that they will have to communicate with others in the hearing world with the language that is used by most of the people within the community, and that is English. (Eden, BiBi) Apart from this, the philosophy of "total communication" is one that teaches deaf children to be familiar with all the various modes of communication that are available to them, and all those methods that would be suitable for all their specific needs. (Eden, Total Communication)"
Abstract This paper examines the language and cultural aspect of deafness. The author discusses the effect these have on the deaf substance abuser's therapeutic relationship and on the treatment. It is also stressed that more research is needed to aid deaf and hearing impaired people.
From the Paper "According to Robert Pollard (1996) approximately about 40,000 deaf Americans suffer from serious psychopathology. Only 2% of Deaf Americans in need of mental health services receive them. The Deaf population is severely underserved, proven by this fact. Individuals who are deaf constitute a special subgroup of the disabled population for whom counseling services are insufficiently provided (Tucker, 1981).According to Johnson and Locke (1978), research on substance abuse among deaf people is meager. Enough drug and alcohol abuse in a residential school for the deaf was present to justify special intervention and prevention programs (cited in McCrone, 1982). The deaf alcoholic is not only isolated from society because of his/her alcoholism, but the deaf community is normally an isolated group of people and there is the painful awareness of isolation for a person who is not only deaf but also ill with the disease of alcoholism (Hetherington, 1979). It is evident, as I will show in the following paper, more research is needed to allow mental health centers to provide services for hearing impaired and deaf individuals. This paper will focus on one of the reasons the mental health community has not fully served this cultural population."
Abstract This paper studies the unique challenges faced by deaf athletes. The paper looks at the various sports organizations for the deaf and how they function. The paper also profiles some deaf athletes and chronicles changes for this community over the past century.
From the Paper "The deaf have long been competing in sports, though they usually compete against other deaf athletes. The Akron Club for the Deaf in Ohio sponsored the first national basketball tournament in the United States..."
Abstract This paper discusses the life of an individual who has the sensory impairment of deaf-blindness. The paper goes into detail of how a person with this impairment must live and learn to communicate, using methods other than vision and hearing. Different methods are introduced as well as opinions and research by experts in the field. Finally, there are individual testimonies as well as techniques, which allow communication to occur.
From the Paper "After communication is successfully achieved there are still many difficulties that a person must face. We all have to remember that a deaf-blind individual may actually have no sight or hearing. Venturing outside of the home and classroom is often very difficult. One thing to make hearing, seeing, or both people aware of is that when outside, deaf-blind individuals use a red and white cane."
Compares and contrasts education in the Northern and Southern colonies of America during the seventeenth century. Also includes a review of the effects religion has had on the American educational system.
Abstract After providing a brief introduction on the educational scenario in America during the seventeenth century, the paper provides an overview of the two main schools of thought that were responsible for spreading education in the Northern and Southern colonies of America. Following the overview, educational developments in the Northern colonies are compared with those of the Southern colonies, the events detailed in order of their historical occasion. A analysis of traditional and modern education in context of religion and the American society follows, contrasting educational achievements and shortcomings of the Northern and Southern colonies of America during the seventeenth century.
Education in Northern Colonies
Education in Southern Colonies
Seventeenth Century Education in relation to Religion (North & South
Colonies)
Conclusion
From the Paper "The seventeenth century has been known as an age of faith that brought literacy and reason to the New World. For the colonists who came to settle their families, it was a new era of education for the grooming of their generations. The educational revolution, coupled with religious rebel of the sixteenth century was severe and shaking as its impact was felt both on the continent as well as in America. It were the educated Americans of the seventeenth century that thought and realized to use education and religion in coordination for widespread awareness among the people and quick acceptance of the reformation. Though most Americans substituted religion with humanitarianism, education was acknowledged unanimously for being indispensable to the newly emerging dominion (1)."
Abstract This paper queries the sustainability of the educational methods of Cuba, South Africa and Sudan in terms of creating egalitarian and socially equal societies that empower the masses. Furthermore,the paper continues with Anders Breidlid's ideas about Cuba saying that "The social capital injected into communities over generations has paved the way for the possession of cultural capital, not only for a small elite, but for the majority of the population." The paper further discusses this in conjunction with Carnoy's concept of "state-generated social capital" in Cuba and compares them to South Africa's ideological educational system as seen by the declarations of its curriculum and Sudan's education system being Islamic. Pertinent questions are raised and discussed by the paper. The paper further asks whether the Cuban model is replicable without an authoritarian, coercive environment to ensure its success.
Outline:
Introduction
A Mechanistic Vs. an Ecological Approach to Sustainable Education Cuba's Educational Discourse and Equality
The Educational Discourse of South Africa's C2005
State-generated Social Capital in Levelling the Field
Language in Education in South Africa
Sudan's Islamic Educational Discourse
Education Towards a Theocracy?
Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses in Sudan
The Discourse of Inclusion/Exclusion, Gender and Sustainability
Critiquing Cuba's Paternalistic Educational Discourse
Conclusion
From the Paper "Civil society is now questioning the revolution's legitimacy in providing access to knowledge. For instance, the Biblioteca Independiente Felix Varela was established by Mexidor and her husband Ramon Castillo with the aim of providing other sources of information and knowledge other than that promoted by the government through voluntary donations. Within a year, 13 such independent libraries operated in the island. However, they were soon subjected to government harassment and persecution to the extent that the couple had to seek asylum abroad in 2001 (Cruz-Taura 2003: Online). With reference to Sterling's (2001) table above, Cuba's educational ethos is clearly a mechanistic one of manipulation, control and dependence with a centralized power-base hierarchy that aims at standardization and homogeneity. "
Abstract In this article, the writer notes that achieving universal education is one of the UN's 8 Millennium Development Goals agreed to in 2000 by all the world's countries and the world's leading development institutions. The writer points out that although some progress has been made in increasing the level of education in most countries, a number of third world countries have fallen behind in their effort and are unlikely to achieve the goal by the target date of 2015. The writer outlines the benefits of education and discusses the co-relation between illiteracy and poverty. The writer then reviews the status of education in the third world countries. Finally, the writer enumerates the reasons for high levels of illiteracy in these countries and looks at how they can be overcome.
Outline:
Benefits of Education Responsibility of Governments in Education and its Social Benefits
Individual/ Private Benefits
Co-relation between Poverty and Literacy
The State of Education in Third World Countries
Reasons for the Continuing Low Education Levels
Overcoming the Barriers
References
From the Paper "There is a strong correlation between poverty and illiteracy. Wherever literacy rates are lower, poverty rates are invariably higher and vice-versa. The relationship between the two is a vicious circle as poor countries do not have sufficient resources to invest in education; most of the people who survive on incomes of less than 2 dollars a day cannot afford to send their children to school. On the other hand, a low literacy rate is a major barrier against personal improvement and prevents the poorest people to lift themselves out of the poverty trap.
"For example, in third world countries such as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Mozambique and Nepal, 78% or more of the population lives on incomes below US$2 per day, adult literacy rates are below 63%, and the number of adult illiterates exceeds 5 million in each country."
Abstract Modern European / Western education finds in its current form, roots that stretch back to Socrates and further to the earliest forms of oral histories and story-telling. The western model of education is based almost exclusively upon lecture, experience and review, is graduated in complexity and content over time, and covers, in general, approximately 12 years of a student's life. The content of lessons, regardless of context and subject, generally follow a specific structure with a philosophy of development that finds its origins in Locke, Rousseau, and Pasteur. During the 19th century, on the heels of the Age of Enlightenment and through the Romantic Era, education underwent fundamental changes. Many different factors influenced the form and content of that education, most significantly, perhaps, being that of nationalizing and standardizing the educational system. It is the purpose of this paper to examine the history of educational systems during the 19th century Europe, differences in gender-involvement, the influence of Napoleon, Locke, Rousseau, Pasteur and other thinkers from the Enlightenment and Romantic periods, all with the intent of demonstrating how our modern model of education has been shaped and determined by these factors.
Abstract This paper relates the deplorable state of education in the U.S, which ranks at the very bottom of 19 industrial nations in reading, writing and arithmetic, disastrous for a country that has bet its future on an information-driven economy. The author stresses that, if the philosophy of education is to be reformed and rethought, the beginning is with the educators themselves. The paper states that the first step in reforming the American school system is to retain some of the traditionalist values, such as teaching the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic; however, the methods and environment in which these skills are taught needs to be approached using a progressive viewpoint.
Table of Contents
The State of Education Today
Identifying Goals of Formal Education Towards A Better Education A Personal Philosophy
From the Paper "Part of the problem lies in the somewhat dismal salaries being paid to educators. Granted, this is in itself is a sad commentary on educators, but it is a fact of life, the economy and the rising costs of goods and services. As a result, because educators feel they are not being fairly compensated, the students ultimately suffer from neglect and/or lower standards of education. In a way, we can look at it as the classic case of the domino effect - to borrow a phrase from the Cold War era. Because the economy is suffering, educators' salaries are negatively impacted. Because educators' salaries are negatively impacted, their lack of dedication and motivation is dramatically affected, and at the end of the domino effect are the students."
Abstract This paper presents a look at early childhood education in London, England. It includes a brief history and examines the social, economic, cultural, and technological forces have affected educational changes in England. The paper discusses the variety of educational pedagogies in this system of early childhood education.
From the Paper "The history of the education movement in England can be traced back to the Education Act. This Act ushered in the modern system of education in England. The Act gave rise to a national system of state education but also assured the existence of ..."
Tags: Early Childhood Education, London, England, Brief history of Early Childhood Education in England, The social, economic, cultural, and technological forces have affected educational changes in England. Educational pedagogies in this system of Early Child
Abstract This paper investigates bilingual educational, and evidence that both supports and undermines specific didactic methods. Problems with bilingual education are also be addressed. Special attention is paid to bilingual immersion as a language acquisition tool, and is compared with other bilingual education methods. Additionally, the discussion addresses key issues regarding the failures and problems in bilingual education in the state of California.
Methods in Bilingual Education Problems and Failures in Bilingual Education Conclusions
From the Paper "There is significant need for effective methods in the teaching of America's growing number of English learners, students who must learn English as a second language. Estimates cite 4.6 million English learners in American public schools in 2000-2001 (Rodriguez, & Higgins 2005). Immense effort and research has addressed this problem, yet many students still struggle. The current status of English learner debate centers on the positive and negative aspects of bilingual programs versus programs that do not use a student's native language in instruction. To be considered a bilingual program, a method must incorporate both the English language and native language of the student into the school instruction. Bilingual programs come in many forms, with varying levels of native language use and English use. Depending on implementation methods and structure, bilingual programs also have varying levels of success."
Tags: Bilingual, education, Hispanics, United, States, elementary, education
