CBSE Class 10 Answered

1. In October 1896, Helen entered the Cambridge School for Young Ladies, to be prepared for Radcliffe.  The subjects that Helen took up in her first year were English history, English literature, German, Latin, arithmetic, Latin composition, and occasional themes.

2. In October 1896, Helen entered the Cambridge School for Young Ladies, to be prepared for Radcliffe.  At the Cambridge School, the plan was to have Miss Sullivan attend the classes with Helen and interpret to her the instruction given. The instructors at Cambridge had had no experience in teaching any but normal pupils, The only way of Helen conversing with them was reading their lips. Miss Sullivan could not spell out in her hand all that the books required, and it was very difficult to have textbooks embossed in time to be of use to Helen. For a while, Helen had to copy her Latin in braille, so that she could recite with the other girls. During the exam, it was advised that Helen have her examinations in a room alone because the noise of the typewriter might disturb the other girls. Mr. Gilman, the principal of the school, read all the papers to her by means of the manual alphabet. Mr. Gilman sat beside her and read the paper through first, then sentence by sentence, while she repeated the words aloud, to make sure that she understood him perfectly. The papers were difficult, and Helen felt very anxious as she wrote out her answers on the typewriter. Mr. Gilman spelled to her what she had written, and then she made such changes as she thought necessary, and he inserted them.

When Helen began the second year at the Gilman school, during the first few weeks she was confronted with unforeseen difficulties. She had physics, algebra, geometry, astronomy, Greek and Latin. Unfortunately, many of the books she needed had not been embossed in time for her to begin with the classes, and she lacked important apparatus for some of her studies. The classes were very large, and it was impossible for the teachers to give Helen special instruction. Miss Sullivan was obliged to read all the books to Helen and interpret for the instructors, and for the first time in eleven years, it seemed as if her dear hand would not be equal to the task.

Although it was necessary for her to write algebra and geometry in class and solve problems in physics, she could not do this until they bought a braille writer, by means of which she could put down the steps and processes of her work. Since she could not follow with her eyes the geometrical figures drawn on the blackboard, her only means of getting a clear idea of them was to make them on a cushion with straight and curved wires. She had to carry in her mind the lettering of the figures, the hypothesis and conclusion, the construction and the process of the proof. In short, every study had its obstacles.