Onderzoek naar invloed van sociale klassenverschillen op de behandeling van leerlingen van drie doveninstituten met verschillende achtergronden in Nederland, in de periode 1895-1910.

Abstract

This research focuses on social class in three Dutch institutes for deaf pupils in the period 1895-1910: a public institute, a catholic institute, and a protestant institute. The objective is to find out whether pupils were treated differently according to their social class, in the different institutes. By means of qualitative methods, such as searching for relevant documents in archives, the attempt was made to answer the research question. The analysis was carried out through the use of the grounded theory. In order to provide a systematic overview of the data, the digital program MAXQDA (2007) was used. Evolving from the analysis, similarities were found: the strive to social equality for all pupils seemed to be shared by the institutions, despite their different backgrounds.. However, differences were found as well. One school stood out in its acceptance policy. Due to its financial situation, it was not possible to support all parents who lacked financial resources, which resulted in the refusal of several pupils. Every similarity or difference is investigated in the light of the religions or ideology of each institute. Only the catholic institute kept the view that the society was divided into different classes by God. A part of the protestants shared this view, while others thought God was the way to equality. Enlightened people strived to equality in society. Not all differences and similarities could be explained by these ideas.