I was horrified to read of the recent incidents of bullying at Parktown Boys' High School. This sort of thing is not peculiar to this school, but widespread nationally and internationally. Though girls can be "catty", "mean" and "cliquey", their behaviour in this regard does not come close to that of some teenage boys.
I was bullied in my youth at a boarding school in the Eastern Cape. I remember the names of the boys who abused me to this day: one became an infamous, racist farmer in Zimbabwe, another was killed in a motor accident in Zambia and the other one entered the priesthood.
Their particular favourites were to make a group of us squat so that they could kick us up the backside with sharp-pointed shoes and tie our hands behind our backs so that oranges could be thrown at the genital area.
Furthermore, I still have a letter from a former pupil describing the vicious treatment meted out to him at a technikon in Gauteng. Taken out at midnight, he and others were stripped naked, thrown on to their backs on concrete blocks to rip the skin, then tied face down for hours so the mosquitos could move in.
In another case at a so-called prominent school, parents of a boy saw me on the day their son was leaving to tell me how he'd been humiliated. A group of boys in his house over a two-year period would throw him down in the showers and then urinate on him. When I asked the parents why they had not told me earlier, they said their son would have "got into worse trouble". What on earth could be worse?
I have been headmaster of five schools and know that it is impossible to detect and punish every instance of bullying, but authorities at schools should make it patently clear and emphasise it frequently as an absolute priority that instances of this sort will lead to very serious consequences.
I congratulate the school authorities in this case for taking strong action and am confident they will concentrate on prevention rather than cure.
The usual and mindless reactions to the above are supremely unintelligent comments such as: "It happened to us, so why shouldn't it happen to them?"; "Boys will be boys"; "It's just horseplay"; "It makes men out of them" (what sort of men?), and so on.
What has happened at this school is nothing less than brutal sadism. I urge parents to report every incident of bullying to the head of their respective school and demand redress. I also counsel an approach to legal resources when satisfaction is not gained. But be sure you choose a smart advocate; there have been too many cases recently where wealthy parents of bullies have engaged the services of highly effective legal people to prevent prosecution. Be warned!
I would be more than happy to offer advice and counsel to concerned parents. My phone number is 
011-88...
.
Neil Jardine
Parktown, Johannesburg
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