Seven-year-old Elon Musk has been called “retarded” by teachers for constantly staring into space, leaving his father “flabbergasted”.
Errol Musk said Elon’s school principal and Year 2 teacher in his native South Africa told him Elon might need to go to a special school.
However, it was agreed that the whimsical look could have been caused by the SpaceX founder’s hearing problem, and it was eventually resolved by getting him ear grommets, a small tube that is placed in the ear of an individual. a child during surgery to drain fluid.
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Using an outdated term, the 76-year-old said in a YouTube interview posted on Wednesday: “I knew he wasn’t retarded but I didn’t know what to say.”
(Image: TSWT via Getty Images)
His comments were part of the latest episode of a series called Dad of A Genius with a psychologist known as Anneke.
Worried about being summoned to his son’s school, which he left soon after, because of a sharp tongue, the businessman added: “If someone said something that he didn’t think he was smart, he said: ‘It’s stupid’ or ‘You’ are stupid,’ you know?
“I think he may have gotten it from me, but I hope not.”
Errol said his son’s Year 2 teacher was almost in tears when she told him that Elon spent much of his time in a “fixed position” staring out the window.
She apparently said that a young Elon, who had Asperger’s Syndrome, didn’t return her calls, even when he was shaken by the teacher, Errol claimed.
“I thought okay, well, what’s wrong with that, but I didn’t say anything and I turned to the manager and he was like ‘Listen, we think that ‘Elon needs a special school,'” Errol added.
(Image: TSWT via Getty Images)
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He said he had inquired about the quality of his son’s schoolwork and the teacher said, “Surprisingly, his work is good, it’s good.
Errol said he “didn’t quite know what to say” at this point.
He then recalled how the teacher once again made the eyebrow-raising comment, saying, “We think Elon is retarded.”
“At that time, they were pretty simple. They didn’t mince words,” he continued.
“I looked at them both and the teacher was almost in tears and I didn’t quite know what to say.
“We sat there in kind of dumb silence for a few seconds and then the principal came to the rescue, that’s us, and said maybe there was something wrong with his hearing.
“So it was fantastic. And the teacher said ‘Yes, yes that’s it.’
“And he and I said ‘Yes.’
“If it was any other place, we would have each stood and held and done a little jig or something.”
Errol said he left the meeting vowing to have Elon’s hearing tested and found that all the child needed were ear grommets.
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