In addition to the state institutions and the day schools, there have been established in America certain schools for the deaf which are strictly under private management, and, as a rule, not subject to the immediate control and direction of the state. These are of two kinds: 1. denominational schools, maintained by some religious body; and 2. schools conducted as purely private and secular affairs. Such schools now number twenty-one, ten denominational and eleven private, all in 1912-1913 having 638 pupils. Most are of comparatively recent date, the first having been established in 1873, and nine since 1901.[305]

The denominational schools are found in California, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, there being two in Pennsylvania. They are for the most part boarding institutions, in a few cases being departments of larger institutions. Their controlling purpose is to surround their pupils with religious influences, and to provide them with religious instruction. All but one are under Roman Catholic auspices, as a usual thing in the hands of the Sisters. The single Protestant school is in the care of the Lutheran Church, and is controlled by the synod, with the direct management vested in a board of trustees. These schools are supported by denominational funds, by voluntary contributions, and in a small measure by tuition fees. In some of the schools, as in Maryland and Pennsylvania, there is state aid to a small extent. The fees paid by pupils are never high, and not many in the schools pay the full amount, though inability to pay is never allowed to keep any away who wish to attend.[306]

Private Schools

The eleven non-denominational schools may be themselves divided into two classes: those which are really homes for very young deaf children, sometimes under the control of a society organized for the purpose; and those which are purely private enterprises, owned and directed by one or more individuals. Of the former there are four homes or kindergartens—the Sarah Fuller Home of Boston, the McCowen Homes of Chicago, the Home School near Baltimore, and the Home School of San Francisco.[307] Their main object is to give their pupils an early start in the use of speech as well as to provide a home, and children as young as three, or even younger, may be admitted. The management of these schools is usually in the hands of trustees. Support is derived largely from the fees of pupils, though some schools are often the recipients of private donations, especially when children are taken without charge; and one or two have aid from public allowances.[308]

The private schools of the second class are almost entirely dependent on tuition fees, though one or two likewise receive some state aid. With two exceptions,[309] they are found in large cities, New York having two, and Philadelphia, Baltimore and Cincinnati one each. These schools are both boarding and day schools.

The method employed in the private schools is nearly always the oral, and this is the method also of some of the denominational schools. In some of the schools of both classes manual training and instruction in trades are given to an extent.

[305] There have been a number of private schools at various times, perhaps a score or more, which have been discontinued—besides those which were the nuclei of the state institutions. There are, moreover, several private schools for the hard of hearing, where instruction and practice are offered in lip-reading, and attended for the most part by adults.