Subjective and personal approach to devastation at Joburg high school
IN 2016, RICHARD Wright was diagnosed with a rare pituitary cancer – little is known about the disease, but it is almost always terminal. Amid this bleak prognosis, Wright decided what mattered most – ensuring his two young daughters would not have to grow up without their dad.
Understanding this life purpose, he focused on overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges, using the sheer power of his mind. Research into what the human mind is capable of, and grit and determination, enabled him to complete four full Ironman races while undergoing cancer treatment. He never gave up. Told with raw honesty, humility and humour, his story proves discomfort sparks outrageous achievement when linked to a sense of purpose. A profound story of passion and endurance.
SAM Cowen is known for her talk show Rude Awakening on Radio 702. She is also a certified professional consciousness coach.
In 2016 Parktown Boys High was rocked by a scandal involving a teacher molesting schoolboys. Rape, sexual grooming, attempted murder and sexual assault were among the charges.
Collan Rex, a former pupil, studied to become a water polo coach and returned to teach at the school when he was a mere 23 years old.
The closeness in age to his pupils gave him a familiarity with them that went well past the boundaries of a pupil/ teacher relationship. Once the whistle was blown on him by a pupil who had had enough, his life as a teacher unravelled, and as more and more boys came forward to relate their fate in his hands, he was sentenced to imprisonment for 23 years – for as long as he had lived.
Cowen’s approach to the sorry state of affairs is subjective and personal. She interviewed the victims, recorded their versions of what happened and transcribed them verbatim. In order to get close to Rex she befriended his new girlfriend, and together they went to the prison where Rex revealed that he was in an abusive relationship. Rex’s girlfriend’s background is equally fragmented, with a history of abuse.
Removing the sexual predator was the first step in normalising behaviour at the school. Cowen discovers that at the heart of the abuse lies a system of bullying within a traditional fagging or “new pot” system for the hostel boys.
It seems harmless enough. Newcomers to the school hostel need to do things like warm the toilet seat for their “old pot”, make their beds, and polish their shoes. It becomes abusive when the youngsters are forced to stand under cold showers for “hours”, or made to do “hundreds” of push-ups on gravel. In the interviews, some of the boys are unhappy; others are appreciative that this strengthens them, and in fact, creates a sense of pride and loyalty to the school.
The book is instructive to parents who wonder if their sons should go to school as weekly boarders or day students. Who should be taking responsibility for the well-being of the boys?
Does it start with parents, who would hopefully have given their sons a sense of self-assurance, self-respect, respect for others and an ability to say “no!” to what does not feel right? The school principal and governing body should probably have been more aware of what was going on, but as security cameras show, a reliance on their presence is not a guarantee of better behaviour.
As for the Education Department, what more can they do if the system is already under financial pressure and they do not have the correct skills to respond?
One reader called for the school to be closed, but that is not helpful. Boys need to go to school to receive an education. It is a complex problem, no less because there is an ongoing call for men to lose their “toxic masculinity” and be more in touch with their feelings; but on the other hand they cannot be “babied” forever either. Bullying has a long history.
was published in the 1850s, with stories on how to get the upper hand with a bully. Shaka Zulu was hard on the boys he taught to be part of impis, toughening their feet with thorns.
People can be taught to be kind to each other, but it takes effort from parents and teachers. Perhaps Shakespeare summarises this human condition: “The fault lies not in the stars, but in ourselves…”