To afford the deaf and dumb of the state, so far as possible, an enlightened and practical education, that may aid them to obtain the means of instruction, discharge the duties of citizenship, and secure all the happiness they are capable of obtaining.
The early educators of the deaf felt themselves that they were indeed carrying the light to shine in a dark place. In the language of one of the foremost of them:[223]
Then the great triumph of science and benevolence over one of the most terrible of human calamities will be complete, and the deaf and dumb, objects of interest, but hardly of compassion, will stand forth among their kindred who hear, heirs of all the hopes, the privileges and the lofty aspirations of their race.
Extension of the Means of Instruction over the Country
Interest in the education of the deaf had thus become general, public concern was awakened, and movements were early on foot in not a few states to start schools. The enthusiasm aroused by the success of the first schools only increased the hopes that others would be provided to reach the deaf children in all the states. A writer in the North American Review in 1834[224] declared that there were "no doubts that the wants of the deaf and dumb will soon be supplied, and that the public beneficence already extended to a portion will, before the lapse of many years, be extended to all."
Nor were these hopes to be shattered, for the states followed each other in rapid succession in providing means for the instruction of their deaf youth. Indeed, when we consider how early some of the newly settled states began to devote attention to the education of the deaf—a work that was undertaken in Europe only after the middle of the eighteenth century—we are persuaded that it speaks no less for the regard for and devotion to education implanted in the breasts of the American people, than for the bigness and benevolence of their hearts. The credit remains just as deep, even though it has ever been the mission and spirit of America to bring education to the door of every one of its children, and though what it has done for the deaf is but a part of this great principle.
The early workers, despite the preliminary journeys to Europe, were largely pioneers, and this country owes an immeasurable debt to the founders and directors of the first schools. Many of them were ministers of the Gospel, and all of them were men of high ideals. Possibly there has never been a movement undertaken for the good of humanity that has drawn to it a more capable or earnest band of men. These early workers were possessed of a determination, an ardor, a resourcefulness, combined with scholarship and understanding of no common order, that would have graced any human cause. They were truly of those in America that have blazed trails, and to them belonged those elements of character that are a pride to any people.[225]
The first schools were created by societies of private citizens, funds being contributed from "membership fees" in the societies, from subscriptions and from other private donations.[226] To the aid of these schools the state later came with appropriations; but while an oversight and general control were assumed by it, the schools were left as private corporations. With the establishment, however, of the Kentucky School in 1823, a second stage is reached in the extension of the new work, the state now undertaking the task itself and providing the schools at its own initiative and expense. At first admission into the schools was restricted to a certain number of pupils, often based upon some political division of the state, as a senatorial district in Tennessee, or a judicial in Ohio. When such limitations were swept away, we have the third stage in the provision for the education of the deaf. The fourth and last stage—though not necessarily in this order in any one particular state, and not in every case formally accomplished—is attained when in Indiana all charges are removed, and education is made free to all.[227] In the schools created in later times all these steps were usually merged into one: limitations of any kind were mostly omitted, and the schools were in general thrown open to all from the beginning.
Thus is reached the culminative point in the course of the provision for the education of the deaf in America. No longer was private benevolence to inaugurate and carry on the work, but the state was coming to see its responsibility in part, finally to realize its full duty in making education free to all its deaf population, just as it was free to the rest of its citizens.[228]
In many instances, before action by the state, instruction of a small collection of deaf children was taken up by a group of citizens;[229] but hardly had this been done when as a rule the state proved itself ready and willing to move in and shoulder the responsibility. These private schools were thus often the nuclei of the state institutions, at first aided to an extent, and then taken over. In fact, the private schools were not infrequently started more or less as experimental affairs, but with the expectation that the state would speedily come to their help. "The idea of the founders seemed to be to give barely enough to keep the school going, and to depend upon getting support of a substantial character in the course of time."[230]