FY 2008 Annual Report of Achievements - Gallaudet University

French Primary School Moral and Civic Instruction Textbooks, 1900–1914
Status: Ongoing Begin date: September 2008 End date: September 2009
Principal Investigator(s):
Bergen, Barry – Government and History
Description:
The investigator will travel to France in October and November 2008 to do additional
research on primary school moral and civics textbooks from the period 1900 to 1914 to add to his
completed work on textbooks from 1870 to 1900 in his book manuscript, Molding Citizens: Culture,
Class and Primary Education in France, 1870–1914, for Northern Illinois University Press. Evidence will
be combined from this new research with that in his completed chapter to produce an article
covering the moral and civics textbooks for the entire period from 1870 to 1914.
Funding source: GRI Small Grant
The Impact of Education Reforms and Juvenile Programs on French Deaf Youth,
1936–1945
Status: Ongoing Begin date: January 2008 End date: No set date
Principal Investigator(s):
Ryan, Donna F. – Government and History
Description:
Major political and social revolutions often target youth as critical agents for future
transformation. From 1936 to 1945, enormous changes were envisioned for France, including the
attempted socialist and communist reforms of the Popular Front (1936–1938). This was followed by
the right-wing revolution that came to power in the aftermath of the 1940 defeat—the Vichy
government of Marshal Philippe Pétain. Each intended revolution had its own plans for education,
youth service corps, and physical fitness as well as solutions for the social problems that contributed
to teenage delinquency.
Effects of these programs on deaf students, or the personnel of the deaf schools, has not
been studied. The investigator undertook research to determine how these movements for
educational reform, juvenile justice, youth organizations and physical recreation, and the cult of
Marshal Pétain were presented in the schools for the deaf, especially at the Institut National des
Jeunes Sourds in Paris. The degree to which these phenomena were present or absent in deaf
education can reveal a great deal about attitudes towards deaf or disabled people, which in turn
elucidates much about French notions of citizenship and inclusion of those considered to be the
“Other.”
A two-month research trip to France was undertaken where primary research was begun to
determine the effect of these policies on deaf youth. Significant time was spent combing inventories
and cartons of documents for information on education of deaf students at Archives Nationales de
France in Paris (series F60). Work continued at the archives of the Institut National des Jeunes
Sourds for this period. During the last few years, many cartons of documents for the war years,
including administrative records and all individual student dossiers, have been organized and made
available. This spring several of these cartons were in transit to another location and temporarily
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