First a little background: I am in the process of getting my educational interpreter certification. I also have 5+ years working in Deaf Ed, mostly in elementary, and a degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences.

1) Deaf students require an interpreter; this inherently slows down the class. I cannot tell you how many times a class has had to be paused because the interpreter can't keep up. This is doing a disservice to maybe 20-30 other students; the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

The only time I have seen this happen as you described is with inexperienced interpreters. A brief pause or need for clarification does not normally slow a class down.

In addition (this may be on a case by case basis), deaf students may have other needs, such as a microphone the teacher must wear, that further slow down the class. When students are talking, the mic is passed around, and it simply does't make sense to me that this is really the fastest way for the class to progress.

Our teachers wear mics, and I have never seen this problem. We aren't passing around the mic for every student with a question or comment like you described, but we do pass around the mics several times a day. The worst thing that usually happens is the cord getting tangled in my lanyard!

2) Deaf students have a very hard time socializing with other students. A major caveat that many interpreters have made to me is that the deaf students are more "touchy" than the rest of us; they tend to tap, bump, or even slap those they are communicating with. In deaf culture, this is seen as normal, but when mixed with hearing students it ultimately causes the hearing students to look down upon the deaf students because they tend to almost slap their peers

If a Deaf or HOH student slaps you, there's a problem. We use hand waves and taps but not slaps. DHH aren't these wild animals running around grunting and slapping people because they are "touchy."

3) At least in my experience, deaf students tend to have a problem wherein they misjudge the volume at which they are speaking. Whereas others may nod in agreement, deaf students tend to let out short phrases of acknowledgment, a "Yes" or something like that. In doing this, they cut off the teacher.

Are they really cutting off the teacher any more than Joe the Class Clown and his quips from the back? How much time is lost with these short phrases of acknowledgment? I will be the first to admit DHH can be loud, but a simple reminder does wonders. Our kids are still learning and exploring their voice and need to be taught when it is and isn't appropriate.

4) Deaf speech is almost always incredibly hard to understand, which inadvertently causes the other students to look down on them. It's very easy to judge deaf students based on their difficulty speaking.

Race, gender, socioeconomic status. All these things cause others to judge as well! And what about those with accents who are also hard to understand? People judge. It is a tough lesson we all learn at some point. I don't even understand how this is a reason to pull DHH from mainstream.

In summary, i think that keeping deaf students in all deaf classes would benefit both hearing and deaf students.

This sounds more like it will benefit YOU. I am really sad you have such a poor perception of DHH.