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State Education Department officials were blind to the feelings of deaf students on this week's English exams - heartlessly asking them questions about sounds such as the clickety-clack of a woman's high heels and the rustle of wind blowing on leaves, educators claimed. One sixth-grade teacher of hearing-impaired kids said they were completely thrown off by a lengthy listening passage rife with references to environmental noises - such as a cupboard door creaking open or the roar of a jet engine. The kids were then asked to write how a boy who hears those sounds as music in his head is like a typical sixth-grader.

Politicians have seen plenty of demonstrators outside the Statehouse here. But the crowd that gathered last month was a bit different from the usual shouting protesters.