Francis Joseph Campbell

“ The United Kingdom stands almost alone in allowing the education of the blind to depend upon charity. In the United States, each state government not only makes liberal provision for the education and training of the blind, but most of them provide grounds, buildings and a complete equipment in all departments. Although it costs much more per capita, from £40 to £60 per annum, the blind are as amply provided with the means of education as the seeing. ”

“ One of the workshops in western America has adopted the motto, “Independence through Industry,” and it should be the aim of every civilized country to hasten the time when blindness and pauperism shall no longer be synonymous terms. ”

“ In the public mind blindness has been so long and closely associated with dependence and pauperism that schools for the blind, even the most progressive, have been regarded hitherto as asylums rather than educational establishments. A sad mistake in the training of the blind is the lack of an earnest effort to improve their social condition. The fact that their education has been left to charity has helped to keep them in the ranks of dependents. ”

“ If, therefore, as an economic proposition, it were realized how vitally it concerns the state that not one child shall needlessly become blind, thereby increasing the public financial burden, there is no doubt that early and effective measures would be instituted to protect the state from this unnecessary and extravagant expenditure of public funds. ”

“ It is perhaps the employment par excellence for the blind, and among other advantages it has the following to recommend it: employment is provided for the blind of both sexes and of all ages; there is no accumulation nor deterioration of stock; it yields an excellent profit, and its use is universal. We have been pushing this industry for years, our annual turnover in this particular department having exceeded £7000, and as we find it so suited to the capabilities of all grades of blind people, it is our intention to provide facilities for doing a turnover of three times that amount. ”

“ In the United States many blind persons are engaged in agricultural pursuits, and some are very successful in commercial pursuits. When a man loses his sight in adult life, if he can possibly follow the business in which he has previously been engaged, it is the best course for him. In the present day, work in manufactories is subdivided to such an extent that often some one portion can be done by a blind person; but it needs the interest of some enthusiastic believer in the capabilities of the blind to persuade the seeing manager that blind people can be safely employed in factories. ”

“ Blindness, either total or partial, is so largely a defect of the aged, and occurs with so much greater frequency as the age advances and the population diminishes, that in any comparison of the proportion of the blind in the general population of different classes, such as native and foreign-born whites, or white and coloured, the age distribution of the population of each class should be constantly borne in mind. ”

“ Public authorities should adopt the most efficient plan for preparing blind children to become active, independent men and women, rather than consider the cheapest and easiest method of educating them. ”

“ Defective vision, apart from ocular defect, seems to be due partly to want of training of the eyes for distant objects and partly to exhaustion of the eyes, which is easily induced when work is carried on in bad light, or the nutrition of the children is defective from bad feeding and unhealthy surroundings. Regarding training of the eyes for distant objects, much might be done in the infant department by the total abolition of sewing, which is definitely hurtful to such young eyes, and the substitution of competitive games involving the recognition of small objects at a distance of 20 ft. ”

“ Having drifted through childhood, they are content to drift through life. The important habits of punctuality, regularity and precision should be cultivated in all the arrangements and requirements. A great effort should be made to lift the blind from pauperism. As soon as pupils enter a school, all semblance of pauper origin should be removed. They must be inspired with a desire for independence and a belief in its possibility. ”

“ They should be told the requirements of social conventions which a seeing child learns through watching his elders. They have no consciousness that their habits are disagreeable, and the earlier unsightly mannerisms are corrected the better. It is a fallacy to suppose that the other senses of the blind are naturally sharper than those of the seeing. It is only when the senses of hearing and touch have been cultivated that they partially replace sight, and such cultivation can begin with very young children. ”

“ In July 1896 Queen’s Scholarship examinations were held at the Royal Normal College, for the first time, for blind students, and the institution recognized by the Education Department as a training college for blind school-teachers.
From the first day a pupil enters school until he finishes his course of training, care must be taken to implant business habits. Blind children are allowed to be idle and helpless at home; they do not learn to appreciate the value of time, and in after years this is one of the most difficult Educational needs.lessons to inculcate. ”

“ Rests, accidentals, and every other sign used in music can be readily and clearly expressed without having recourse to the staff of five lines which forms the basis of ordinary musical notation, and which, though it has been reproduced for the blind, can only be considered as serving to give them an idea of the method employed by the seeing, and cannot, of course, be written. ”

“ Music in its various branches, when properly taught, is the best and most lucrative employment for the blind. To become successful in the profession, it is necessary for the blind to have opportunities of instruction, practice, study, and hearing music equal to those afforded the Musical training.seeing, with whom they will have to compete in the open market. If the blind musician is to rise above mediocrity, systematic musical instruction in childhood is indispensable, and good instruction will avail little unless the practice is under constant and judicious supervision. ”

“ When twenty years of age, the blind are usually discharged from the institution. Long experience has taught us that the care and supervision of the blind after their discharge from the institution are quite as important as their education and training in the institution. ”

“ Blind children have a stronger claim upon the public for education than other children, because they start at a disadvantage in life, they carry a burden in their infirmity, they come mostly of poor parents, and without special instruction and training they are almost certain to become a public charge during life. ”

“ For the education of its blind children annually New York alone pays per capita at least $350, and a yearly gross sum amounting to much more than $100,000. If, as sometimes happens, the blind citizen is a dependent throughout a long life, the cost of maintenance is not less than $10,000, and the mere cost in money will be multiplied many times in that a productive factor, by reason of blindness, has been removed from the community. ”

“ Eleven of the United States of America have enacted laws requiring that, if one or both eyes of an infant should become inflamed, swollen or reddened at any time within two weeks of its birth, it shall be the duty of the midwife or nurse having charge of such infant to report in writing within six hours, to the health officer or some legally qualified physician, the fact that such inflammation, swelling or redness exists. The penalty for failure to comply is fine or imprisonment. ”

“ Early manual training cultivates the perceptive faculties, gives activity to the body, and prepares the hands and fingers for pianoforte-playing, pianoforte-tuning and handicrafts.
Besides a good general education, the blind must have careful and detailed training in some handicraft, or thorough preparation for some profession. The trades and professions open to them are few, and if they fail in one of these they cannot turn quickly to some other line of work. ”

“ For the sake of economy, schools for deaf-mutes and the blind are sometimes united. As the requirements of the two classes are entirely separate and distinct, the union is undesirable, whether for general education or industrial training. ”

“ From the first, the founders of the college maintained that the blind could only be made self-sustaining by increasing their intelligence, bodily activity and dexterity, by inculcating business habits, by arousing their self-respect, and by creating in their minds a belief in the possibility of future self-maintenance. ”

“ We cannot afford to give the blind an education that is not the best of its kind in the trade or profession they will have to follow. There are many seeing persons with little education who are useful citizens and successful in various industries, but an uneducated blind person is helpless, and must become dependent. ”

“ The acquaintances then made lead to intimacy in later years and foster intermarriage among the blind. Intermarriage among the blind is a calamity, both for them and for their children; some who might have been successful business men are to-day begging in the streets in consequence of intermarriage.
In every school or class there will be a certain number of young blind children who, from neglect, want of food, or other causes, are feeble in body and defective in intellect; such children are a great burden in any class or school, and require special treatment and instruction. ”

“ The musical instruction must be more thorough, more analytical, more comprehensive, than corresponding instruction given to seeing persons. In 1871 Dr Armitage published a book on the education and employment of the blind, in which he stated that of the blind musicians trained in the United Kingdom not more than one-half per cent were able to support themselves, whereas of those trained in the Paris school 30% supported themselves fully, and 30% partially, by the profession of music. ”

“ Some will have the necessary talent, combined with the requisite character and industry, to succeed in the musical profession; in addition to a liberal education, these should have musical instruction, equal to that given to the seeing, in the best schools of music. (e) Some may achieve excellent success as pianoforte-tuners, and in a pianoforte-tuning school strict business habits should be cultivated, and the same attention to work required as is demanded of seeing workmen in well-regulated pianoforte factories. ”

“ Those who cannot return to their relations cannot at once meet all their expenses, and the weak and old need special help. A part of the money for their board and lodging is paid for those who have to be settled in other places on account of the death or untrustworthiness of their relatives.
“The fund for the discharged blind is administered by the director of the institution. The number of those assisted amounts at present to about 400, who live respectably in all parts of Saxony, are almost self-supporting, and feel themselves free men. ”

“ The object of the institution, which is wholly unsectarian in character, is to educate and train the blind mentally and physically and in industrial occupations, and at the same time to improve their moral standard, so that eventually they may become in great measure, or even completely, self-supporting. ”

“ The blind, whether educated for the church, trained as teachers, musicians, pianoforte-tuners, or for any other trade or occupation, generally require assistance at the outset. They need help in finding suitable employment, recommendations for establishing a connexion, pecuniary assistance in providing outfits of books, tools, instruments, &c., help in the selection and purchase of the best materials at the lowest wholesale rates, in the sale of their manufactured goods in the best markets, and if overtaken by reverses, judicious and timely help towards a fresh start. ”

“ The fundamental principles in different branches are imperfectly understood, from the failure to follow the illustrations of the teacher. In the playgrounds, a few irrepressibles join in active games, but most of the blind children prefer a quiet corner. ”

“ Education
As more sensations are received through the eye than through any other organ, the mind of a blind child is vacant, and the training should begin early or the mind will degenerate. Indirectly the loss of sight results in inaction. If no one encourages a blind child to move, he will sit Early training.quietly in a corner, and when he leaves his seat will move timidly about. This want of activity produces bad physical effects, and further delays mental growth. ”