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From:
"Angus B. Grieve-Smith" Date: Sat Mar 11, 2000 2:25 pm Subject: Re: SignWriting as a gateway? | |
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I'm always struck by the similarities between Deaf ed and bilingual ed, and this discussion is no exception. As I see it, there's enough pressure on Deaf kids to learn to read and write English, and will be for the forseeable future. We don't need to worry about them; they'll do what they can to pick it up because they see the economic value in it. Perhaps those folks on the list who have _been_ Deaf kids can confirm or deny this. There's also something called a negotiating position. I get the impression that there are a lot of school administrators out there who don't want to see any writing system but English taught. If we go all out and advocate learning written sign k-12, we may get something more like what we'd settle for (say a few years in elementary school). If we argue for what we'd settle for, we may get only half that. Let's not do the administrators' arguing for them! -- -Angus B. Grieve-Smith Linguistics Department University of New Mexico |
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