Errol Musk can’t seem to get enough press attention at the moment. After hitting the headlines for speaking out against the brutal bullying of his son Elon and subsequent ‘non commital’ of his school, he’s now making some pretty sweeping statements about the South African school system in general. This is what he said to News24:

 It is about whether they can play rugby or not. If boys grow up like that, they end up being like Oscar Pistorius, who shoots his girlfriend, and shoots out of a car and at a restaurant. It starts at schools.”

Eish. I’m not sure it’s possible to generalise any more than that. If you play rugby at school you’re destined for a life of gun crime? He goes on:

Ninety percent want to study, it’s only that 10% who don’t. Schools do not take notice of their [the 10%’s] behaviour.”

It does feel like Musk’s comments are based on his and his son’s personal experiences, rather than a broad knowledge of SA education. But that doesn’t stop him:

South Africa is seen as having a jock culture. It might produce intellectual people, but it is not an intellectual culture.”

But there are two sides to every coin, and while there may be a very ugly side to jock culture, there are also plenty of students for whom it is just a game. Bullying is a global issue that can’t simply be blamed on one sport.

[source: News24]