17. Growing Up in the Public Eye 

 
 
It's always tempting, when dissecting a person's life, to go back in 
time and assign blame for the way things turned out, but it's not 
always fair. Certainly, Joseph and Katherine had the best intentions 
when they were raising their family, and didn't intend to harm their 
children. It's the rare parent, one would hope, who purposely sets out to completely screw up his kids' lives. If Joseph had told his 

brood to forget about show business, and focus on lives out of the 
public eye, such a demand would not have gone over well, at all. 

 
Try as they might have, the value system the Jackson parents 
passed on to their children was, at best, warped. Whatever it takes 
to get to the top, that's what they were told they had to do – that 
was their value system. Katherine tried to fight it and hoped to 
instill other ideals along the way – especially having to do with her 
religion – but none of them really seemed to matter when applied 
to the world in which her children were being raised, the world of 
show business. They were all caught up in the powerful illusion 
that if they became rich and famous, their lives would be better. 

 
Fate and circumstance, along with an obvious inadequacy in 
parental skills, set into motion a chain of events that would do 
irreparable harm to all of the Jackson children, and especially, to 
Michael. At least the older brothers had had a few years to act like 
children. Michael never did; he was barely five years old when 
thrust into show business. 

 
Of course, the boys loved to perform and even wanted  to 
perform. They excelled in that arena. The look of satisfaction on 
Michael's face when he was onstage made it clear that he was 
doing what he wanted to do, and that if someone had given him 
the choice between playing basketball with his friends and 
entertaining them on a stage, he would have chosen the later. 

 
However, a fine line exists between what children may want, and 
what may be in their best interests. It's not likely that Joseph 
understood as much, or was able to gauge the difference between 
what might be in the best interest of his children, and what his own 
agenda was for them. 

 
It is not only the vast sums of money child stars earn which set 
them apart. Most child performers are shortchanged on their 
education, as well. Few have ever attended public school regularly. 
In the film industry, they are often tutored on the set. MGM even 
had a school for the youngsters who worked in their movies. 
Although the children were supposed to study a certain number of 
hours each day, filming often took precedence over education. 
They gleaned from their studies what they were able to, and then 
went back to their work in front of the cameras. 

What's more, child performers are often cheated out of 
learning social skills – the all-important art of getting along with 
people. The other boys and girls with whom they associate are 
usually working children like themselves. Some of Judy Garland's 
happiest memories were of the short time during her teens when 
her career seemed to be going nowhere. She left the studio school, 
enrolled in Hollywood High – hiding her background from her 
fellow students – and enjoyed herself, immensely. (That happy 
period came to an abrupt end when a vice-principal told her she 
shouldn't be enrolled in school with ‘normal people’.) 

 
The couple of years that the younger Jackson boys spent in 
public schools are romanticized by Michael and Marlon as 
highlights of their lives but, in truth, they weren't very happy. 
Michael attended sixth grade at Gardner Street Elementary in Los 
Angeles, though not consistently because of his work schedule. In 
truth, he was just a guest there, making cameo appearances in the 
classroom as he might on a television variety show. His sixth 
grade teacher, Laura Gerson, remembered, ‘Once I was teaching 
the kids a song with a three-part harmony, and I hit a flat note that 
made my hair stand on end. Michael's eyes popped wide open. 

 
Nobody but him noticed. He never talked about himself. 
Occasionally, he would disappear and turn up on television…’* In the seventh grade, Michael joined Marlon at Emerson 


Junior High. But by this time, The Jackson 5's accomplishments at 
Motown had robbed them of their privacy. They only had two 
weeks at Emerson, obviously no time to integrate into the 
population or get to know anyone, before they were forced to 
leave. There had been a death threat against them, and that was the 
end of that: Joseph pulled them out of public school. His decision 
was fine with the boys; they wanted to leave, anyway. ‘There were 
mobs of people standing in the hallways just looking into the 
classrooms,’ Marlon recalled. ‘It was embarrassing, and 
frightening.’ From that time onward, the two were either enrolled 
in private schools or tutored at home. 

 
California law requires that minors have a minimum of three 
hours of schooling a day when they are working. Mrs Rose Fine, 
accredited by the state as a ‘children's welfare supervisor’, became 
the tutor for all of the younger Jacksons. Much of their travelling 
time was spent studying for tests that they would take as soon as they checked into their hotel rooms. Between their studies, rehearsals, sound checks and concerts, and the usual goofing off, 
the Jacksons were kept busy. When in private school, which occurred from time to time in 
between touring, Michael was bored by his studies, refused to do 
his homework, and was a terrible student. During class, he would 
draw pictures of animals and monsters when he should have been 
paying attention to his lessons. When called upon for an answer, 
Michael didn't have a clue as to what was going on, and he didn't 
care. 

 
Jackie and Tito have unpleasant memories of their time at 
Fairfax High School, a public school in Los Angeles. The demands 
of their careers made normal routines almost impossible; they 
couldn't join any of the sports teams – a crushing disappointment 
for Jackie, who loved baseball – because they were the focus of 
attention. When they were singled out by classmates who had 
previously ignored them, the two brothers became suspicious of 
everyone. Who was legitimate in their intentions, and who had 
ulterior motives in wanting to know them? Jackie and Tito would graduate from Fairfax when they were 
eighteen. At least they can reflect on a small period of time when 
they were exposed to people who weren't in show business, even if 
they did not enjoy that time. Michael, Marlon and Jermaine can 
not do as much; they were granted high school equivalency 
diplomas by Rose Fine, who was empowered to award them. 

 
Though technically graduated, the three younger Jacksons 
certainly did not obtain a good grounding in basic subjects, no 
slight to Rose Fine who probably did the best she could with them. 

 
To this day, each has problems with penmanship, grammar and 
(Michael in particular) spelling. They also lack a sense of history, 
except that which they managed to pick up during their travels. 
As early as 1972, when Michael was about fourteen, he began 
exhibiting behaviour unlike that of his brothers. While they took 
the pressures of success in their stride, Michael seemed more 
affected by it. ‘He's just more sensitive than the others,’ Katherine 
would explain. If anyone in show-business history could ever be 
said to be lacking in ‘people skills’, it would be Michael Jackson. 

 
To this day, he doesn't really understand people, or even try  to 
understand them, because when he was a youngster he was 
surrounded, for the most part, by either showbiz kids or wealthy 
students who, like himself, were never exposed to the ‘normal’ 
masses. By the time Michael was fourteen, Bill Bray (The Jackson 5's 
security man, who still works for Michael) would arrange for him 
to have access to freight elevators in hotels, rather than take public 
lifts along with ‘normal people’, as Michael called them. 

 
A year earlier Michael had told Judy Spiegelman of Soul 
magazine, ‘I'm just like other kids.’ However, he soon realized he 
was not like them at all. The other group members didn't seem to 
mind ‘normal people’ – as long as they weren't in the form of a 
pack of rioting fans – even if they had nothing to do with them. 

 
Michael, though, was always the one who attracted the most 
attention. If he entered a room with any of his other brothers, he 
was the one to whom the fans would flock. Being singled out, 
being made to feel different, knowing all eyes were on him, had a 
deep impact on Michael. He began to show signs of a deep 
insecurity, and even inadequacy. It was as if he knew he didn't fit 
in. If he could spend his life on stage, he felt he would be happy. 

 
Unfortunately, the world was not his stage. He had to deal with the 
public, and he wasn't able to do so in a way that made him feel 
comfortable in his own skin. 

 
‘He became a loner,’ Katherine Jackson would remember. ‘I 
was worried about him, but I hoped he would grow out of it, that it 
was a phase. He didn't get along with other people his age. He was 
better with adults. I don't know that he had friends his own age. I 
think, probably not. As always, his brothers were his friends. As 
long as we all had each other, I figured we would be okay. I prayed 
we would be okay.’