Brutal School Ties. Sam Cowen

will read it … I will ask you questions about things I’ve been told, so you don’t feel blindsided, and whatever you say will be what is published.”

      “Okay,” he nodded. “Then let’s do it. I think it’s time. I really have a lot to let out and let go of.”

      We met for an interview, I went home and transcribed what we had talked about and sent it back to him.

      “Thanks for the opportunity,” he said.

      “I studied a degree in Education and received a bursary from the then TED, for which I was required to work back. After my teaching practical at a co-educational school, I swore blind I would never teach again, maybe because I battled to manage to teach the girls, having myself attended an all-boys school. But then I got a phone call from the head of Mathematics at Parktown Boys’, to say they were looking for a Maths teacher and they offered me the job. I accepted. I went from not wanting to teach to falling for a profession and an institution. In essence, I was at Parktown just short of 24 years. I left in December 2018. Twenty-three of those years were mostly amazing. The last year, 2018, was absolutely horrendous.

      “In fact, the last 10 years were difficult, with all the issues the school had to go through, but we’d always risen above the media attacks on us – the persecuting and crucifying of the school and the staff. The school has always been an underdog school and has always punched above its weight. Parktown Boys’ has never really had the right to compete on the sports field – they’ve never had the numbers of their rivals, but then they haven’t recruited as aggressively as other schools do.

      “During the first 14 years that I taught, we probably had the most dedicated teaching staff of any school – we always went to sporting events en masse and always looked the part. Staff at other schools were constantly amazed at how uniformly the staff were dressed and how cohesive we were. Nothing was too much of an effort and the staff backed each other at all times. We would walk into the workroom or staff room and assist each other with collating exam papers, registers, or any task, for that matter. The staff were great fun socially, whilst being professional in the classroom. Parktown learners were solid and lived and breathed the school. First-team colours were primarily black and there was a saying that was introduced, that “Black is thicker than blood”. And that’s really how the boys lived their school lives. When my son was four years old, he said that he wanted to attend Parktown and he wanted to board. What four-year-old says that? That is what the school meant to so many of us. My son got his wish, which was sadly ripped away from him by an unfair system, promoted by a handful of people with an agenda and supported by media houses who operate with impunity and disregard for human feelings or concern for printing facts, but rather sensationalism, which helps their rags to sell. I had to take him out of the school, which had been his dream for so long, and put him somewhere else and that just felt so wrong.

      “Parktown is almost 100 years old and, like their traditional rival schools, it is filled with history and tradition. To be part of a school like that and be part of a brotherhood, which I believe the school really gave you, was something special. It was not always an easy environment, but no environment is perfect. There’s a lot of bravado and it can be tough. Having said that, some of the boys who played first-team rugby were also in the choir or did public speaking or debating and no one ever laughed at them; they weren’t judged. The boys were admired and looked up to. As long as you pulled your weight, you would fit in.

      “Parktown was the first state school that integrated back in 1992 as a Model-C school, and I think the school gained a massive advantage. It was a time of inspirational leadership by the headmaster back then, Tom Clarke. The boys never saw colour in terms of race. In my opinion, they were distinguished by the blazer.

      “I truly believe that monastic or boys’ schools cater for 95 per cent of kids. There might be 5 per cent that can’t get it and don’t want to be part of compulsory school participation, and that kind of environment can be tough for them, so therefore there are other options for them, but the 95 per cent really thrive.

      “I always coached sport. I’ve coached A-team cricket and rugby, as well as athletics. I also coached First XV rugby team from 2001 to 2004, and I became Director of Sport in 2003. I’ll be honest, I taught in the classroom because of sport, but I was someone who was effective both on the sports field and in the classroom, where I taught Maths every year.