James B. Smith

Native of Nevada, James B. Smith came to Utah State University and earned BA degree in History and Geography. He is Deaf of Deaf parents and is proud of three beautiful children of whom two are Deaf. His background qualifies him to pursue his passion in Deaf American culture and history. Specifically, his interest is in promoting positive cultural identity in secondary education to ensure every Deaf child is proud to be a Deaf American. He is president and founder of Utah Hands & Voices and developing a parent to parent mentor program for deaf and hard of hearing children and their families in the state. He is currently pursuing a M.Ed. degree from the Deaf Education Program at Utah State University.

The Role of Deaf American Culture and History in Bilingual-Bicultural Secondary Education

Bilingual-Bicultural Education (Bi-Bi) has a huge impact on language development, social-psychological norms and identity of Deaf children (Carol, 2011; Mayer & Akamatsu 1999; Mayer & Wells 1996). The development of those children is owed to their access to ASL; however, the role of Deaf culture and history in Bi-Bi is not well-defined. This paper will outline the issue based on research and a survey sent out to schools for the deaf secondary education administrators.
The results, analyzing to what extent schools incorporate Deaf history and culture into secondary education will be addressed during the discussion. Preliminary results indicate that while there are some efforts to do so, for the most part, schools are not teaching Deaf history and culture in the classroom. This is due to their priority in abiding by NCLB regulation, lack of necessity of such a course due to core curriculum requirements, or lack of understanding of the positive impact the subject has for deaf students. The results of the survey suggest an urgent need for a solution of how to incorporate Deaf culture and history into already established core curriculum.
Implications of how and why to incorporate Deaf American culture and history in classrooms is based on three areas: philosophy, pedagogy and role of educators. Specifically, incorporating history and culture of Deaf people in academic classrooms without altering curriculum will be explored. The positive effects of providing historical and cultural awareness of Deaf people could include: motivating students to learn general history, empowering students to develop opinions related to their surroundings, and enabling students to develop general academic skills such as critical thinking, analysis skills, and literacy skills in English and ASL (Mayer & Wells, 1996; Enns, 2006). The incorporation of Deaf culture and history in the classroom will support and enrich Bilingual-Bicultural education.