In the previous article, we learned that in his childhood, Musk could complete a six-month computer programming course in just three days. However, in this article, we will see Musk during high school, when he began to face his first major challenge.

Bullying and Violence: Musk's School Life

While Musk was very active among his cousins, his school life was not as pleasant. One day, while he was eating with his brother, other students suddenly attacked them.

The reason for this attack was an accidental collision Musk had with one of the students that morning. Although he apologized, the other student perceived it as a serious offense. From that day on, this student seemed mad, sneaking up on Musk, kicking him in the head, and pushing him down the stairs.

He gathered a few more students to beat Musk viciously. Musk quickly passed out, and when his brother found him, he was shocked because Musk was bleeding and his head was swollen.

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A New Beginning: Transferring to Pretoria Boys High School

Sometimes, life is like that, and there's no way to start over without changing the environment. So, when Musk transferred to Pretoria Boys High School, he didn't encounter the same violence as before.

One of the main reasons for this was the high quality of the school management and its emphasis on future admissions to prestigious universities like Cambridge or Oxford, which attracted many parents to send their children there.

During this period, Musk had a strong passion for science fiction novels and even pondered whether the technological principles in those novels could be realized in the real world.

In addition to reading more scientific books, he learned programming languages like BASIC, Cobol, and Pascal. Not only did he win programming awards in primary school, but in high school, he could create electronic games at a semi-professional level. Even more impressive is that most of Musk's programming skills were self-taught. He didn't care about school grades because he only wanted to learn what he was interested in.

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Since South Africa couldn't fully satisfy Musk, he had his American dream early on. In the next article, let's follow Musk as he graduates high school and takes flight from South Africa.

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