# Was Helen Keller exceptionally intelligent, or was Annie Sullivan a great teacher? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 11, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323 "2010-07-11T20:05:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/1 "2010-07-11T20:05:14Z")
I just watched [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv1uLfF35Uw) video of Anne Sullivan describing how Helen Keller learned to speak. Together with her writing, which is excellent, and considering the fact that she did not acquire any kind of communication ability at all until she was past six years old… does this mean that Keller was an exceptionally intelligent person to begin with, with an unusual ability to absorb what Sullivan was teaching her, or was Sullivan an exceptional teacher? I think it’s hard to compare Keller to modern children born deaf/blind, because the work to teach them starts immediately, whereas Keller (who was not born deaf/blind, it happened when she was 18 months old) was pretty much left to be wild and out of control until Sullivan came along. Acquiring communication ability when you are being taught from the beginning is much different than trying to break through after the age of six. Any opinions? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/2 "2010-07-11T21:55:27Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I just watched [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv1uLfF35Uw) video of Anne Sullivan describing how Helen Keller learned to speak. Together with her writing, which is excellent, and considering the fact that she did not acquire any kind of communication ability at all until she was past six years old… does this mean that Keller was an exceptionally intelligent person to begin with, with an unusual ability to absorb what Sullivan was teaching her, or was Sullivan an exceptional teacher? > > I think it’s hard to compare Keller to modern children born deaf/blind, because the work to teach them starts immediately, whereas Keller (who was not born deaf/blind, it happened when she was 18 months old) was pretty much left to be wild and out of control until Sullivan came along. Acquiring communication ability when you are being taught from the beginning is much different than trying to break through after the age of six. > > Any opinions? [Per her wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller)she she was not made deaf and blind until the age of 19 months, which is very important from a formative point of view. If she was deaf and blind from birth I’m pretty sure she would have been profoundly and permanently crippled mentally if no one engaged her theraputically until age 6. > [@](#): > > Helen Keller was not born blind and deaf; it was not until she was 19 months old that she contracted an illness described by doctors as “an acute congestion of the stomach and the brain”, which might have been scarlet fever or meningitis. The illness did not last for a particularly long time, but it left her deaf and blind. At that time, she was able to communicate somewhat with Martha Washington,[10] the six-year-old daughter of the family cook, who understood her signs; by the age of seven, she had over 60 home signs to communicate with her family. According to Soviet psychologist A. Meshcheryakov, Martha’s friendship and teaching was crucial for Helen’s later development ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/3 "2010-07-12T00:06:04Z")
I think both. I also think both were amazingly stubborn, which is probably more important than the raw intelligence or teaching ability. Both were very hard workers as well. Once Helen realized that Anne was working towards her own end, they both were able to harness that stubbornness and diligence. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/4 "2010-07-12T01:41:10Z")
My wife was a special ed teacher and actually studied Keller and Sullivan as a case history. She says it was both - Keller was an exceptional student and Sullivan was an exceptional teacher. Also, what **Dangerosa** said, working hour after hour, day after day. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/5 "2010-07-12T01:55:01Z")
I would have _loved_ to have gotten to talk to both of them. What a fascinating partnership! It irritates me that I didn’t know Helen was an open socialist and had various leftist and/or radical leanings until I was an adult. That gets smoothed over in favor of admiration a lot of the time. When I learned that, I liked her more. I suppose being deaf and blind put her in a position where she figured the world would never quite grasp her anyway so why not just be herself and forget the artifice and let the chips fall where they may – I’m sure I wouldn’t have agreed with her on everything, but that’s not the _point_. No hijack intended – in fact, I think it only demonstrates that Helen was indeed an intelligent person in that she wasn’t afraid to express her opinions, which from what I have read somewhere were at odds with Anne’s at times. Both of them were interesting and remarkable women. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/6 "2010-07-12T02:42:10Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > It irritates me that I didn’t know Helen was an open socialist and had various leftist and/or radical leanings until I was an adult. That gets smoothed over in favor of admiration a lot of the time. When I learned that, I liked her more. I suppose being deaf and blind put her in a position where she figured the world would never quite grasp her anyway so why not just be herself and forget the artifice and let the chips fall where they may – I’m sure I wouldn’t have agreed with her on everything, but that’s not the _point_. You should check out the book [Lies My Teacher Told Me](http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0684818868)- it has a section on that. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/7 "2010-07-12T02:52:46Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > It irritates me that I didn’t know Helen was an open socialist and had various leftist and/or radical leanings until I was an adult. That gets smoothed over in favor of admiration a lot of the time. When I learned that, I liked her more. I suppose being deaf and blind put her in a position where she figured the world would never quite grasp her anyway so why not just be herself and forget the artifice and let the chips fall where they may – I’m sure I wouldn’t have agreed with her on everything, but that’s not the _point_. I didn’t know that either, until I read _Lies My Teacher Told Me_. My answer to the OP would be that both were probably exceptional human beings. Helen Keller wasn’t just a deaf/blind chick who learned to speak, read, and write, she was a highly visible political leader and heroine of social justice. She spent her whole life fighting oppression and yet we reduce her to this archetype that completely excludes her entire life’s work. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/8 "2010-07-12T03:03:55Z")
“Because she moans with the other!” Uh…nevermind… . ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/9 "2010-07-12T03:30:39Z")
It seems to me that both were extremely persistent and inspired, and it was an extremely fortunate pairing. One thing I wass surprised to learn is that hers was not a unique case, and Keller’s mother was inspired by the case of **Laura Bridgman** , fifty years earlier: > **[Laura Bridgman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Bridgman)** > > Laura Dewey Lynn Bridgman (December 21, 1829 – May 24, 1889) was the first deaf-blind American child to gain a significant education in the English language, twenty years before the more famous Helen Keller; Laura's friend Anne Sullivan became Helen Keller's aide. Bridgman was left deaf-blind at the age of two after contracting scarlet fever. She was educated at the Perkins Institution for the Blind where, under the direction of Samuel Gridley Howe, she learned to read and communicate using Br Fo... and **Victorine Morriseau** and **Julia Brace** had preceded her. > **[Julia Brace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Brace)** > > Julia Brace (June 13, 1807 – August 12, 1884) was a deafblind woman who enrolled at the American School for the Deaf, in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1825 and remained there as an employee after her graduation. > Julia Brace was born to a poor family in Hartford County, Connecticut, on June 13, 1807, and became deafblind at age five from typhus fever. She gradually stopped speaking and developed a system of home sign that she used with her parents. She was sent to a boarding school with hearing and s... ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/10 "2010-07-12T04:02:13Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > It irritates me that I didn’t know Helen was an open socialist and had various leftist and/or radical leanings until I was an adult. It does have the amusing consequence that that the only statue of an avowed socialist in the Capitol Hill hall of statuary was erected by Alabama. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/11 "2010-07-12T05:04:38Z")
Yes, yes it does. I find that downright hilarious. With no insult intended, of course. Heck, by conservative American standards, I’m probably a socialist myself. And I don’t see that as such a bad thing, either. I’m sure I’d be horrifying to a good percentage of the population of the state I live in. They are cordially invited to bite me, however. And I am totally hijacking this thread. My apologies. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/12 "2010-07-12T10:00:10Z")
I always attributed Hellen Keller’s success to blind ambition. what? Even she could see the humor in that. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/13 "2010-07-12T14:46:40Z")
I sometimes wonder what would have happened to Helen if she hadn’t gone deaf and blind. Would she still have accomplished wonderful things, or would she have simply grown up quietly as an antebellum debutante, married some bland Southern gentleman of whom her father approved, raised a few kids, and died? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/14 "2010-07-12T14:49:01Z")
> [@Marlitharn](#): > > I sometimes wonder what would have happened to Helen if she hadn’t gone deaf and blind. Would she still have accomplished wonderful things, or would she have simply grown up quietly as an antebellum debutante, married some bland Southern gentleman of whom her father approved, raised a few kids, and died? She’d just be some communist. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/15 "2010-07-12T14:57:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > One thing I wass surprised to learn is that hers was not a unique case, and Keller’s mother was inspired by the case of **Laura Bridgman** , fifty years earlier:] Interesting. I never knew about her. Even more interesting that she passed some of her techniques on to Anne Sullivan. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/16 "2010-07-12T15:57:06Z")
> [@Marlitharn](#): > > I sometimes wonder what would have happened to Helen if she hadn’t gone deaf and blind. Would she still have accomplished wonderful things, or would she have simply grown up quietly as an antebellum debutante, married some bland Southern gentleman of whom her father approved, raised a few kids, and died? It’s hard to say. Keller herself often credited her experience of feeling powerless as a deaf/blind/mute to her recognition of the suffering of others. She also remarked that she knew she was privileged to have a family who could afford Annie Sullivan and that many other disabled people did not have access to the same resources. I think she had in her an inherent compassion and intelligence, but the disability gave her a platform she might not otherwise have had. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/17 "2010-07-12T17:57:43Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I didn’t know that either, until I read _Lies My Teacher Told Me_. My answer to the OP would be that both were probably exceptional human beings. Helen Keller wasn’t just a deaf/blind chick who learned to speak, read, and write, she was a highly visible political leader and heroine of social justice. She spent her whole life fighting oppression and yet we reduce her to this archetype that completely excludes her entire life’s work. Yeah, but her life’s work was pretty stupid. She basically fought for moronic causes in favor of tyranny and injustice, however it was dressed up. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/18 "2010-07-12T21:31:37Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Yeah, but her life’s work was pretty stupid. She basically fought for moronic causes in favor of tyranny and injustice, however it was dressed up. Don’t know much about communism in her day; I’m not a communist. Regardless of the vehicle she used, she drew attention to the exploitation of the working class at a time when few people really cared. She brought visibility to the invisible and helped to shape the labor rights movement. Ergo, her life’s work matters very much to me. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-helen-keller-exceptionally-intelligent-or-was-annie-sullivan-a-great-teacher/546323/19 "2010-07-12T21:54:39Z")
Helen Keller was an exceptionally intelligent woman. She passed the entrance exams for Radcliffe with no assistance (using a Braille typewriter), something the average sighted, hearing woman of the time would not have been able to do. She was also disappointed that other deaf-blind children were not able to achieve the same quality of expression as herself, even with training, probably because they were not as intelligent as she was or suffered cognitive deficits. Of course Annie Sullivan was also a great teacher, and Helen’s intelligence could never have been recognized without Annie’s very effective teaching. While Helen supported socialism, she also fought vigorously for better education and services for the blind and the deaf, woman’s suffrage, and birth control, none of which I consider moronic causes. It’s impossible to know what would have happened had Helen never become blind and deaf, but given her incredible spirit and intelligence, I like to believe that she would still have gone to Radcliffe and fought for civil rights.