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Loryell McNemar
Mrs. DeBock
English 4
3 March 2016
Should Public Schools Offer Sign Language as a Class?
Benefits such as being able to communicated with deaf or hard of hearing people and
then personal benefits like easier to read body language when talking to someone are things to
gain when knowing sign language. Too many times does a deaf person or hard of hearing person
have to use an interpreter or type or write what they need to say because people do not know sign
language. Learning simple sign language to be able to communicate with my friends who are
deaf has helped majorly. Even learning simple fingerspelling can help. Public schools should
offer to teach sign language as a class.
Deaf or hard of hearing people have to use an interpreter because people do not know
how to sign. When speaking to a friend Peter Burton questions such as how often he has to deal
with problems because people do not know how to sign were asked and he said, Every day with
everything from ordering at a restaurant to trying to make phone calls that need an interpreter so
he never gets a call back. Anglin-Jaffe talks about how insurance companies will not pay for
hearing aids or devices not even for younger people still in school. Insurance should pay for
hearing aids or helping devices or at least help pay. Insurance covers or helps cover most other
disabilities but not deaf, hearing loss or hard of hearing. Also in school many deaf or hard of
hearing students need extra help especially in English class because grammar is different in sign

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language than in English and lots of students do not get the extra help they need from their
teachers so they have to pay for a tutor and an interpreter.
In Signing Made Easy, Butterworth and Flodin show just the smallest signs to help
someone or to carry on a full conversation. The book is used to make sign language easier to
learn and gives easy small signs. There is an index in the back to look up specific words. They
also teach how to address a person and form sentences since it is different from writing a
sentence down on paper. Butterworth and Flodin wanted to give people an easy way to learn sign
language on their own. When talking to Burton, he said fingerspelling could help even the
slightest bit when it comes to talking to someone who is deaf or hard of hearing. Fingerspelling
could help so that you do not have to type or write everything out.
The important thing about why learning sign language is so important to learn is that for
many people it is their only means of communication. Some people can read lips and speak to
you but regardless it is difficult. Most people who read lips and speak are hard of hearing or have
not been deaf their entire life. In Teach Sign Language in Schools, the article talks about how a
doctor messed up with a diagnosis to one of his patients and ended up with his patient dying
because his patient was deaf and the doctor did not know sign language. Knowing the smallest
signs and or fingerspelling could save a life. Burton spoke about how countless areas that could
use the knowledge of signing in their job to make things better and easier. Peter said, Its not
just the ability to use sign language but even being educated on the topic of deaf and sign
language. Some other areas could be medical, could be professors, could be even friends.
Countless areas that can use it. I promise. The medical field and professors and friends should
all know how to sign it could end up saving a life.

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Public schools should offer to teach sign language as a class or at least a club to possibly
save a life. Small signs and fingerspelling could help a deaf or hard of hearing person in the
event of an emergency. Too many people get hurt or die from people not knowing how to sign. If
people knew how to sign, the number of inequalities would be dramatically smaller. If schools
offered sign language it could change how students see people and make them pay attention to
body language. Many benefits can be gained from knowing how to sign, so why not offer it in
schools?

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Works Cited
Anglin-Jaffe, Hannah. "Signs Of Resistance: Peer Learning Of Sign Languages Within 'Oral'
Schools For The Deaf." Studies In Philosophy & Education 32.3 (2013): 261. Advanced
Placement Source. Web. 17 Feb. 2016
Burton, Peter. Personal Interview. 17 February 2016.
Butterworth, Rod R., and Mickey Flodin. Signing Made Easy : A Complete Program For
Learning Sign Language, Includes Sentence Drills And Exercises For Increased
Comprehension And Signing Skill. n.p.: New York : Perigee Books, c1989., 1989.
Destiny Library Resources. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.
"'Teach Sign Language in Schools'." Africa News Service 20 Aug. 2015. Opposing Viewpoints
in Context. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.