Similarities and Differences Between Mainstream and Deaf Schools
Children with hearing problems have different options regarding secondary education. Mainstream schools are the schools that allow students with special needs to be enrolled, and they usually attend regular classes during scheduled time periods based on their skills. Whereas, deaf schools comprise wide and diverse professional field that major on deaf students or those who have hearing problems.
There is a number of similarities and differences between the mainstream educational institutions and those ones specialized for deaf students. Firstly, in mainstream schools, deaf teachers’ numbers are almost negligible, as opposed to deaf schools, where many deaf teachers are employed. Secondly, class size in mainstream schools may be various, either big or small, whereas deaf schools tend to have small classes. Thirdly, learners communicate via interpreters in mainstream schools in contrary to deaf schools, where the former communicate directly with peers or teachers. Moreover, mainstream school students get access to a broad variety of extracurricular activities which are mostly designed for people without disabilities, whereas, deaf schools have sports teams where children with hearing problems can communicate with their coaches and teammates with ease. In addition, students are held to state and federal standards in mainstream schools, while in deaf schools they are mostly characterized with low reading levels.
Students in both types of schools go through a similar education system which create equal opportunities for career development, so that students’ success depends on their own performance. Furthermore, for non-deaf trained teachers it is rather easy to teach in both mainstream and deaf schools. Additionally, in both cases, students are not only involved in curriculum activities but also have common ways of communicating among themselves.
Generally, students join both schools, deaf and mainstream ones, to get fair chances to perform well in any environment. Notably, students’ success in education depends on their motivation and favorable environment for learning.