Did This Really Happen on His First Day of School?

Edmund Gates, Sr.’s First Day of School

   John Fredrick Gates probably thought and hoped the two years with his brother’s "hearing" family would prepare his oldest son for school. One can only imagine his consternation when Edmund returned from his first day of school and began signing that he had gotten in a fight that very day. As Little Edmund had approached the schoolyard, he was met with taunts of “deafie” from another student. This first grader could not ignore this derogatory remark leveled against him because of his hearing-impaired parents. He swiftly lifted his lunch bucket and with precision struck the schoolyard bully across the head creating a deep gash causing blood to gush everywhere. The teacher emerged from the door of the school exasperatedly saying, “Goodness, a fight the first day of school!” Seemingly since little Edmund used his lunch bucket as a weapon, he sacrificed his lunch for his family’s honor and was forced to go hungry the rest of the school day.
   
   As a teacher, my heart aches for a little guy coming to school eager to learn and instead enduring ridicule aimed at the two people he loved most. However, as the great-granddaughter of Elizabeth Studebaker Gates, the first student of the Kansas School for the Deaf and mother of this little first grader, I am disgusted at the ignorance since she was quite likely the most educated mother of any student attending that school!

A bully met him before he even got to the door of this rural Kansas school in the early 1880s. Grandpa handled the bully the only way a young child could. However, as long as he lived, he always had a very clear sense of right and wrong--a man of principles--and family meant everything to him. In addition, Grandpa was always a strong proponent of education for all of his children. Only God could have taken such a initially devastating experience and insulated him against bitterness toward learning and going to school.

Edmund Gates, Sr. as a child

Some additional facts:      Edmund Gates, Jr., my father, can still sign and understand the sign for “eat” even at age 94 following his stroke. He and I use this sign for fun quite a bit.    Dad has often mentioned how diligently Grandpa tried to teach his children sign language but to no avail.    I recall whenever Great-aunt Ella Gates-Meyer or Great-uncle John Gates came to visit, we would make the trip over to my grandparents’ farm home to see the relatives from Kansas. I would sit perfectly still and wide-eyed, as Grandpa communicated with one or both of these siblings using sign language as well as spoken language. My intrigue with Grandpa’s first language caused me to take American Sign Language “for fun” while I was at Oklahoma State University.