Editing Louis Braille (section)

== Blind education ==
Braille studied in [[Coupvray]] until the age of ten. Because of his intelligence and diligence, Braille was permitted to attend one of the first schools for blind children in the world, the Royal Institute for Blind Youth,<ref name=Encyclopedia>{{cite book|title=The World Book Student Discovery Encyclopedia, Vol. B2|year=2000|publisher=World Book Inc.|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0-7166-7400-9|pages=117}}</ref> since renamed to the [[Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles|National Institute for Blind Youth]] in Paris.<ref name=Farrell98>Farrell, p. 98.</ref> The last of his family's children to leave the household, Braille departed for the school in February 1819.<ref>Mellor, p. 26.</ref> At that time the Royal Institute was an underfunded, ramshackle affair, but it provided a relatively stable environment for blind children to learn and associate together.<ref>Kugelmass (1951), pp. 34–35.</ref><ref>Mellor, p. 29.</ref> While a student at the school, Braille made lifelong friends, including [[Gabriel Gauthier]], Hippolyte Coltat, and Jean-Pierre Binet.

===Haüy system===
[[File:Braille house07.JPG|thumb|right|Bust and awl exhibit at the Braille birthplace museum in Coupvray|alt=A bust of Braille next to items in a display case]]

The children were taught to read using a system devised by the school's founder, [[Valentin Haüy]]. Not blind himself, Haüy was a philanthropist who devoted his life to helping the blind. He designed and manufactured a small library of books for the children by [[Paper embossing|embossing]] heavy paper with the raised imprints of [[Latin alphabet|Latin letters]]. Readers would trace their fingers over the text, comprehending slowly but in a traditional fashion which Haüy could appreciate.<ref name=Kugelmass3738>Kugelmass (1951), pp. 37–38.</ref>

Braille was helped by Haüy's books, but he also despaired over their lack of depth: the amount of information retained in such books was necessarily minor. Because the raised letters were made in a complex artisanal process using wet paper pressed against copper wire, the children could not hope to "write" by themselves. So that the young Louis could send letters back home, Simon-René provided him with an alphabet made from bits of thick leather. It was a slow and cumbersome process, but the boy could at least trace the letters' outlines and write his first sentences.<ref>Kugelmass (1951), p. 48.</ref>

The handcrafted Haüy books all came in uncomfortable sizes and weights for children. They were laboriously constructed, very fragile, and expensive to obtain: when Haüy's school first opened, it had a total of three books.<ref name=Kugelmass3738/> Nonetheless, Haüy promoted their use with zeal. To him, the books presented a system which would be readily approved by educators and indeed they seemed – at the time – to offer the best achievable results. Braille and his schoolmates, however, could detect all too well the books' crushing limitations.<ref name=Kugelmass3738/> Nonetheless, Haüy's efforts still provided a breakthrough achievement – the recognition of the [[sense of touch]] as a workable strategy for sightless reading. The Haüy system's main drawback, in the opinion of at least one author, was that it was "talking to the fingers with the language of the eye".<ref name=Farrell96>Farrell, p. 96.</ref>

===Teacher and musician===
Braille read Haüy's books repeatedly, and he was equally attentive to the oral instruction offered by the school. He proved to be a highly proficient student and, after he had exhausted the school's curriculum, he was immediately asked to remain a teacher's aide. By 1833, he was elevated to a full professorship. For much of the rest of his life, Braille stayed at the Institute where he taught history, geometry, and algebra.<ref name=Farrell98/><ref name=Olmstrom>Olmstrom, pp. 161–162.</ref>

Braille's ear for music enabled him to become an accomplished cellist and [[Organ (music)|organist]] in classes taught by [[Jean-Nicolas Marrigues]]. Later in life, his musical talents led him to play the organ for churches all over France. A devout [[Catholic Church|Catholic]],<ref>Mellor, p. 5.</ref> Braille held the position of organist in Paris at the [[Church of Saint-Nicholas-des-Champs, Paris|Church of Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.uquebec.ca/musique/orgues/france/snicolascp.html |title=Église Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs |language=fr, en |year=2011 |publisher=Universite du Quebec |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224132503/http://www.uquebec.ca/musique/orgues/france/snicolascp.html |archive-date=24 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> from 1834 to 1839, and later at the [[Church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Paris|Church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul]].<ref>Mellor, p. 78.</ref>