James.Womack@f14.n300.z1.fidonet.org (James Womack) (02/09/91)
Index Number: 13649
[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]
Anne,
You and I have stood on opposite shores when it comes to
educating the deaf. We kind of repeat past arguments, but I
love the exchange anyway. Here is a parable on the topic we
are at odds on:
A Shortened version of James Aggrey's
Parable "The Eagle"
A farmer caught an eaglet and brought it home. He put it
among his flock of chickens and fed it chicken feed--even
though it was an eagle, the king of birds.
Five years later, a man who knew bird chanced to
visit. The eagle walked past. The man said, "That is an
eagle."
"No," said the farmer "it is no longer an eagle, it is
a chicken now."
"You are wrong, farmer. It is an eagle still. It has
the heart of an eagle. I will make it fly."
"No'" said the farmer, "it is a chicken now and will
never fly.'
They agreed to test the bird. The man who knew birds
picked up the eagle. "You are an eagle. Spread your great
wings and fly!"
The eagle looked at the chickens eating their food. It
jumped down and ate with them. The farmer said, "I told you
it was a chicken."
"No, it is not. It is an eagle. I will try again."
The man took the eagle to the top of the house and said,
"Stretch your wings and fly!"
Again the eagle looked at the chickens feeding. Again
it jumped down and fed with them.
"I told you it was a chicken now.'
"No, it is not. Let us take it to the mountains."
They put drove with the eagle to the base of a mountain.
The man who knew birds picked up the eagle and said, "Eagle,
you are an eagle. spread your wings and fly."
The eagle looked around and trembled as if new life was
entering its body. But it did not fly. The man turned the
eagle and made it look directly at the sun.
Suddenly the eagle stretched its great wings. With the
screech of an eagle, it took off and soared higher and
higher. It never returned. Though tamed, it was an eagle, not
a chicken!
Lesson: Though efforts are made to educate deaf children to
be like hearing children, they still grow up to be deaf
adults.
Anne, perhaps this is why that young lady raised and educated
orally is so taken with learning about herself as a deaf
person and wanting so badly to master ASL. Perhaps this is
why there are so many like her who feel something is missing
despite their "success."
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