Monday - October 16, 2006
Thugs at Gallaudet
Down tools! Unite! Usually these are the
slogans of workers striking against their employers. The power to disrupt
private enterprise through collective bargaining has been protected by law and
is generally recognized as serving society by preventing poor working conditions
and low wages. That workers unions have rarely actually served that purpose is
an unfortunate result, but at least there are lofty claims when businesses are
threatened with bankruptcy, and at times
violence.But what is going on at Gallaudet
University? Here we have a heavily subsidized school, grades
Kindergarten through doctoral studies, solely dedicated to educating deaf and
hard of hearing people, and the students are
striking.What's it all about?
Nothing. They are causing chaos and stopping kindergarteners from attending
classes because they don't "like" the new president. At first they said she
wasn't "deaf enough," now they just say that she "doesn't show enough concern
for the students."
I've been scouring the news reports about this
strike, trying to find some evidence of corruption by the new president, a
scandal, a time when she mistreated someone. Nope, there is no such incident
and no one even claims it.
So does she
have an agenda that goes against the best interests of the deaf and hard of
hearing? Nope. She's a big advocate of helping them, she is in fact deaf
herself.
Does she support policies that
have been discredited, such as a return to teaching other languages instead of
American Sign Language? Nope. She seems to be perfectly responsible and in
line with the best developments in the field of deaf
education.
So what the heck are these
students at Gallaudet doing?
Let's go
back in history a bit. The current president was put into his position in 1988
when the students protested another presidential appointment. At that time, the
person tagged to become president was a hearing man, as were all previous
presidents. The students rose up and protested, demanding that the president of
the university be deaf. Personally, I think this was a foolish requirement to
impose, it limits the pool of candidates and potentially excludes brilliant
people who happen to be hearing. It's a form of reverse discrimination. But,
at least it is understandable that the deaf would find it in their interests to
have one of their own leading them.
When their protests succeeded in
getting I. King Jordan, a deaf man, appointed as president, the students crowed
in triumph, adding a new word to the deaf lexicon, "Pah!" Pah, means "finally!"
As in "Pah! We've finally shown that the deaf are competent to run their own
schools."
But this precedent has made
current students, perhaps influenced by former graduates from the first strike,
into believing that a strike is necessary when selecting a new president, even
when the selection is a deaf person who is well qualified and isn't accused of
corruption or incompetence.
These
strikers don't bother saying why they oppose her, except to say that they don't
think she shows enough concern for
them.
Heck, I wouldn't show much
concern for people like them, either. They are behaving like brats. They are
showing the world, wrongly, that deaf people are incapable of operating in civil
society and abiding by the laws. They are, frankly, perpetuating a stereotype
that deaf people can't be trusted to understand simple
concepts.
So what is this really all
about? I couldn't say for sure. All I know is that people of this nation have
charitably supported this school to help deaf and hard of hearing people get
educated at all levels and these thugs are preventing 5 and 6 year old children
from going to school, they are preventing young men and women who worked hard to
go to college and want to become educated so that they can someday get good jobs
and support their families.
It's hard
to be deaf and compete in a hearing world. Gallaudet needs to act decisively to
expel these protesters, without exception, and fire any teachers involved
because they have been acting without reason to prevent deaf people from
learning. People go to Gallaudet to learn and become more competitive in the
job market and the arena of ideas, not to learn how to be thugs.
Go Back to the Start, Do Not Collect $200 Send me your two cents
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