Cover next page > title: Seeing Language in Sign : The Work of William C. Stokoe author

< previous page
page_30
next page >
Page are serving as critics for the students who are possessors of Bachelor's degrees;
·
Kendall School given its mission to train teachers should include courses in child development because there]
appears to be a decided lack of understanding that teachers should know about normal physical, emotional, social and mental growth before they become specialists to work with and understand children with a physical impairment;
·
the physical education offerings are meager without courses in anatomy and kinesiology, but yet . . . a student, taking three years of basic physical education activities plus two courses, one first aid and the other community hygiene, could qualify to teach physical education in a State School for the Deaf;
·
no one on the staff, except perhaps the Dean and the President, is acquainted with the organizational charts . . . it is not surprising to find some discrepancies between the chart and the actual practice;
·
attendance at Board meetings and interest in the College by some members is "only fair" and this fact assumes a greater significance when one considers that the Board is not large to begin with" Shocked at the severity of the criticism leveled at the college, President Elstad ordered Dean Fusfeld to study the report. Fusfeld was able to quibble with some points, but concluded "There can belittle question that many of the observations reflecting critical conditions are valid."12
As a result, Elstad and Fusfeld decided that they needed, among other things, a "curriculum expert" They found George Ernst
Detmold, a Cornell PhD. with a certificate in administration from Teachers College of Columbia University. Detmold had absolutely no experience with a deaf population, but since that had never been a prerequisite for employment at Gallaudet
University, he was hired as Dean of Instruction, anyway. His real job, however, was "to get the place accredited."13
It was the beginning of anew era at Gallaudet. Detmold had no prior loyalties to anyone at the school he had no preconceived notions about deaf people and he was given free rein to hire new faculty, change and improve the curriculum, and insti-

Download 2.48 Mb.

Share with your friends: