American Annals of the Deaf Volume 18 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1873 Excerpt: ...should receive at school. CONDITION OF THE UNEDUCATED. Valuable as are the statistical facts collected by Dr. Peet, of far greater popular interest, and of more practical value to the majority of us, are his researches into the views regarding the deaf and dumb entertained from the earliest times down; into the actual state of their minds before instruction, especially with regard to a knowledge of language and religion; into the methods devised for their instruction, and the results attained under each; and into the social and legal position accorded or due to them. From these inquiries he drew the principles governing the methods and course of instruction he adopted. Their extent is to be gathered from many allusions in the course of statements or defences of his own system, as well as from the more formal and elaborate expositions he set forth. We will first follow our guide into the consideration of the phenomena presented by the intellectual and moral condition of the uneducated deaf, as determining the necessity and possibility of their education, and indicating the best means of imparting it. Uneducated adults he divided, according to their social position, which in part depends upon their mental capacity and moral development, into four classes, viz: first, wanderers, sometimes doing well for a short time, but often degenerating into vagrants; second, domestic drudges, too often ill used; third, laborers, mechanics, or farmers, able to manage their affairs well, and sometimes heads of families; and fourth, those, belonging mostly to the generation now past or passing away, cast with families of high character and intelligence, and raised by fortune above the necessity of labor. While the consideration of some uneducated deaf-mutes would make one thi...