IV. The Auricular Method.—The hearing of semi-deaf pupils is utilized and developed to the greatest possible extent, and with or without the aid of artificial appliances, their education is carried on chiefly through the use of speech and hearing, together with writing. The aim of the method is to graduate its pupils as hard-of-hearing speaking people, instead of deaf-mutes.
V. The Combined System.—Speech and speech-reading are regarded as very important, but mental development and the acquisition of language are regarded as still more important. It is believed that in many cases mental development and the acquisition of language can best be promoted by the Manual or Manual Alphabet Method, and so far as circumstances permit, such method is chosen for each pupil as seems best adapted for his individual case. Speech and speech-reading are taught where the measure of success seems likely to justify the labor expended, and in most of the schools some of the pupils are taught wholly or chiefly by the Oral Method or the Auricular Method.[558]
Of these methods the oral and the combined are practically the only ones found. The auricular is employed only in connection with certain pupils in some of the schools; while the manual method is found in but two schools, and the manual alphabet in but one. In the institutions the combined is by far the preponderating system, being employed in all but fifteen of the sixty-five; while the oral is employed in twelve. On the other hand, the oral method is used in the day schools almost altogether, there being but two of the sixty-five schools employing the combined system. In the twenty-one denominational and private schools the oral method predominates, fifteen employing the oral or the oral and auricular, and six the combined. In such schools, the denominational more often employ the combined method, while the strictly private are oral.
In respect to the number of pupils in the schools using the two chief methods, we find that 83.7 per cent of those in institutions are in institutions employing the combined system, and 13.9 per cent in oral institutions; that of those in day schools 96.1 per cent are in oral schools, and 3.9 per cent in combined; and that of those in denominational and private schools, 54.8 per cent are in combined schools, and 45.2 per cent in oral. Of all the pupils in the schools, 72.4 per cent are in schools employing the combined system of instruction, and 25.6 per cent in schools employing the oral. The percentage taught by the manual or manual alphabet method is 2.0. The percentage given auricular instruction is 1.1.
Courses of Study and Gradations of Pupils
Schools for the deaf have courses of study corresponding in general with those in regular schools, although special emphasis and drill have to be put upon language—something the congenitally deaf child in particular finds exceedingly difficult to use properly. Pupils capable of taking the full course are carried through the kindergarten, primary, intermediate, grammar and high school grades; and on the completion of the prescribed course may receive diplomas, while in some cases a certificate may be granted for a certain period of attendance. Not a large proportion of the pupils, however, really graduate.[559]
In all the schools for the deaf in the United States in the year 1912-1913 there were 14,474 pupils. Of these, 11,894, or 82.2 per cent, were in institutions; 1,942, or 13.4 per cent, in day schools; and 638, or 4.4 per cent, in denominational and private schools.[560] The instructors employed in all the schools (not including teachers of industries, but including superintendents or principals) number 1,419, or one instructor for every 9.5 pupils: in the institutions, 1,090, or one to 10; in the day schools, 223, or one to 7.9; and in the denominational and private, 92, or one to 5.7.[561] The total number of pupils who have received instruction from the beginning is 72,453, of whom 89.0 per cent have been in institutions, 7.7 per cent in day schools, and 3.3 per cent in denominational and private schools.
The following table, based on the figures given in the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education will show the number of pupils in the different grades and classes in the schools for the year 1911-1912.[562]
GRADES OF PUPILS IN THE SCHOOLS
| Kind of School | Kindergarten Departments | Classes Corresponding to Grades 1 to 4 in Elementary Schools | Classes Corresponding to Grades 5 to 8 | Classes Corresponding to High School Grades |
| Institutions | 1,063 | 5,040 | 3,365 | 1,069 |
| Day Schools | 134 | 1,195 | 559 | 38 |
| Denominational | ||||
| and Private | ||||
| Schools | 63 | 244 | 163 | 16 |
| Total | 1,260 | 6,479 | 4,087 | 1,123 |