Our Student Teacher Was Blind

Abstract

In this challenging story of Bill Schmidt, blind student teacher, we have stimulating evidence of a totally blind qualified educator who is taking his place in the profession of teaching sighted pupils. Bill Schmidt received his professional preparation at San Francisco State College with Mrs. Florence Henderson as his major advisor. He completed his practice teaching in the Campbell, California, Independent School System. His master teacher, Aleta Rea Owens, the author of this article, has been a California public school teacher for twelve years. As is customary, those in charge of practice teachers turn in to the college regular progress reports of student teachers. Miss Owens chose to report her evaluation of Bill Schmidt in this narrative form which seemed so particularly appropriate for sharing with New Outlook readers that permission was secured to publish it. Mr. Schmidt has sighed a contract to teach an eighth grade class of sighted children in the public schools of Temple City, California effective September 19, 1955. When the director of education of the Temple City public schools was approached with the idea of employing a blind teacher for sighted children in her school, she remarked that the blind children in her public school system had demonstrated the belief of the community in blind children and so why not follow that same philosophy as it relates to blind adults.