Charles-Michel de L’Eppe (1712-1789): life as a vocation (to the 310th anniversary of the birth of a french priest and deaf educator)

Abstract

As a result of the reconstruction of the biography of Charles-Michel de L’Eppe (1712-1789), the article presents his life and creative path as a whole based on the works of foreign and Ukrainian authors dedicated to the French priest and teacher of the deaf. It has been established that the authors of older works (F. Berthier, L. Ray, M. Yarmachenko), describing the life and activities of de L’Eppe , pay a lot of attention not only to the facts of his biography, but also to his human qualities, thus emphasizing the exceptional role of the individual himself de L’Eppe in spreading the idea of accessibility of education for deaf children. Modern researchers of the work of the outstanding French teacher of the deaf (N. Nikonenko, O. Salamon, V. Stremetska) focus mainly on the fact that he founded the first school for the deaf in France and the peculiarities of his methodology. It is proved that the turning point in the life of Abbe de L’Eppe occurred around 1753 (F. Berthier), when he accidentally met two deaf-mute girls and since then devoted his life to teaching persons with severe hearing impairments. It has been found that de L’Eppe began his pedagogical activity by studying scientific works on the education of the deaf (Juan Pablo Bonet, Konrad Amman), which he used to develop the theoretical justification of his own education system in the works «Education of the deaf and mute by means of methodical signs» (1776 ) and «The True Method of Teaching the Deaf and Dumb, Confirmed by Experience» (1784). It is argued that the name of de L’Eppe entered history for the following reasons: 1) before the opening of the de L’Eppe school in 1760, education was available only to deaf children from wealthy families, and thanks to the new school, such an opportunity appeared and for the poor: the school opened its doors to everyone, and the abbot devoted more than 30 years of his life to pedagogical and educational work with this category of persons; 2) de L’Épée opened his teaching method and teaching process to the public and other teachers, and it was this general availability, together with the successes achieved, that contributed to such a spread and influence of his method that its traces can still be traced in the teaching methods of the deaf to this day; 3) defending his system of teaching the deaf, where L’Eppe discussed with other specialists in this field and thus contributed to an even greater spread of his own ideas; 4) de L’Eppe organized a process of professional training for foreign teachers who wanted to teach in their countries according to his teaching methods, as a result of which numerous schools for the deaf were opened not only in Europe, but also throughout the world.