Memo From EMU to MSU on Deaf Education Program Closure
Dear Provost Wilcox:
We take the opportunity with this letter to reiterate concerns that you have already heard about the closing of the Deaf Education Program at MSU; however, we feel we would be remiss if we did not support our colleagues and clarify our programs at Eastern Michigan University.
There are two distinctly different philosophies to educating children who are deaf and hard of hearing and given this there are two distinctly different approaches to preparing teachers to teach these children. For over 80 years Eastern Michigan University has been preparing teachers to use an auditory-oral approach to teach children, ie utilizing residual hearing through hearing aids and cochlear implants and teaching students to use spoken language.
Parents of young deaf children who are diagnosed as deaf or hard of hearing choose the educational approach and deserve a highly qualified teacher in whichever approach they choose. Eastern Michigan University can not meet the needs of parents who choose the Deaf culture, American Sign Language option. Eastern Michigan University can not meet the need for teachers at the Michigan School for the Deaf or at other programs with a Deaf culture, American Sign Language approach.
Closing the Deaf Education program at MSU would jeopardize many K-12 Deaf and Hard of Hearing Programs in the State of Michigan, including the School for the Deaf. Without an appropriate training program in the state, Deaf programs that rely on teachers who are highly qualified in American Sign Language would have to look for teachers out of state. Young people who wish to go into teaching this approach would have to seek programs out of the state as well.
The two distinctly different programs, one at MSU and one at EMU have worked well for many years and have been able to adequately meet the need for teachers for the deaf and hard of hearing in the State of Michigan. Your decision to close the Deaf Education program at MSU would have far reaching implications for teachers, children and families in Michigan.
Sincerely,
Faculty of the Department of Special Education
College of Education
Eastern Michigan University
Edited 1/23/2010: Corrected incorrect word usage: residual hearing instead of residential hearing.
That’s not good. That’s sad for Michigan state.
I hope MSU reconsiders their decision and puts students before money.
Logic and the facts will get you nowhere, LOL…..
i hope msu will be one of the top performing school in the world
I think that it is important for MSU to keep the deaf-ed major because it truly shows the state of Michigan and the rest of the academic world where the values of MSU lies in terms of higher education for all.