State

November 24, 1934 THE STATE Page Seven These Musicians Never Hear a Note AN interesting story of liou the children at North Carolina's School for the Deaf are taught the meaning of words, Imw to play musical instruments, sing and per¬ form other accomplishments. By RUTH MOORE A FEW weeks ago Тик State carried an article about deaf people of North Carolina, but ii was mostly about adults. I want to talk about deaf children— the 213 boys and 162 girls who are now studying at the North Carolina School for the Deaf at Morganton. I have visited the school several times, and each time I was so astounded by the work being done there that I wanted to stop people on tin- streets and toll them about it. In the first place, these children can all talk. Some of them speak very fluently and distinctly, some do not speak quite so plainly, but all can be understood by any bearing person. Of course they themselves don't bear a sound. But ask them a question and they arc pretty sure to answer it cor¬ rectly. They can read vour lips. It is truly remarkable how well the older Students read lips. It seems almost as if they hear. Then they can sing. They carry the tune, too. Their teachers don’t call it singing; they say it is “rhythmic recitation,” but it sounded just like singing to inc. To cap the climax, from the visitor’s standpoint, they have a school orchestra which they seem thoroughly to enjoy. They use drums, cymbals, and bells which, with the piano accompaniment, make real music. And please remem¬ ber they can't hear a single not.-. How they learn to do all this seems something of a miracle when we con¬ sider their plight when they first enter the school at the age of seven. They know no name, not even their own. In fact, they have had no way of knowing that things have names. The general information, ideas, and ideals which hearing children absorb are completely unknown to these be¬ ginners who have been deaf since birth. Their contacts with the outside world have been limited and in nil probability they have never spent a night away from home. Yet when their par¬ ents bring them to school and leave them for the fall term there is no way of making it clear just what is happening. Sonic of the students have afterwards said that for a long time they had no idea where they were, nor why. There arc 52 such beginners this year, and already they have learned а surprising amount. The day I visited them they were studying the word, tooth. Now a tooth is a tooth to the bearing child, but the deaf child must learn three things about it. He has to recognize the lip movement while his teacher is saying the word. He has to connect that lip movement with the tooth itself — and the bright-faced tots seemed aw¬ fully pleased to know what a tooth was. Then he has to learn how to say "tooth." This latter process seemed the most remarkable to me. Tbe child puts his baud on his teacher's throat. He notices certain movements made there as the word is pronounced. Then he imitates these movements in his own throat : thus speaking the word aloud. Before a child can detect these throat movements he must of course train his sense of touch. This is done partly with musical instruments. Some of the older students have such a highly developed sense of touch that, by put¬ ting their hand on the piano, they cun recognize the selection being р!ау«ч1. Building up a vocabulary is a tedious process for children who knew not a single word. Yet by the time they reach the seventh grade they are nearly abreast of their normal contemporaries in subject matter studied. The high school is very much like any four-year high school, though in actual subject matter it is the cqui- 1S the valent of only two years regular work. But these children have to learn so innnv other things besides the three R’s! Older students usually pick up the hand alphabet for convenience in talk¬ ing with each other, but if they bad just this one method of talking they would lie in«»re nr less a class apart from normal folk. Oral instruction, how* DR. E. McK. GOODWIN, Superin¬ tendent of the School for the Deaf ever since it opened in Morganton in 1894. He is a native of Wake County. ever, as given at the school by teachers of normal hearing, tends to break down the barriers between the deaf and the hearing, and the students usually grad¬ uate fully prepared to take their place in a world of sound. Unfortunately, as in any school, all do not finish out the full course, which takes 12 years. Their vocational training helps them get work. The boys are taught tailor¬ ing. shoe repairing, carpentry, farming, and printing. The girls have an ex¬ cellent home economics department. They enjoy the same things any young people do. They like the talkies, and can understand the conversation. They take active part in athletics and иге пн of the Western Conference of High Schools for football, basket ball, and baseball. Most of them can swim and a great many have taken the life-saving course as given by the Red Cross. The students stay in dormitories dur¬ ing the nine-months school term, going home for Christmas holidays. There is very little homesickness, even among the beginners. These younger children all stay in Goodwin Hall, where the furniture is on a scale to their size. These deaf boys and girls, represent¬ ing ninety-two counties of North Caro¬ lina, deserve much credit for so gal¬ lantly striving to overcome their handi¬ cap, but a great deal of credit must also go to the teachers. Their instruction is outstanding; their course of study so satisfactory that more than half of all ( Continued on page twenty-three)