Once in a while, pieces of the Jackson brothers' schoolwork comes up for auction. I have no real interest in collecting Marlon's math papers or Randy's spelling tests, but I couldn't resist this autobiographical piece written by Jermaine at age 15, where he talks of his early life. He writes in an odd -- and rather inconsistent -- third person voice and he dwells so much on being the baby of the family that it's pretty clear he wouldn't have minded being the youngest of four. At the end of his essay, he talks about "this young man" (i.e. Jermaine) growing up to be the singer of the family. It must have been harder for him than we have realized to have had his little brother push him out of the spotlight.
It's also pretty clear from this essay that the Jackson brothers missed out on a lot of formal education, due to being on the road from the time they were small. The teachers at the Walton School must have had their work cut out for them dealing with show-business children in similar situations.
This blog is an absolute gem! very addicting too!
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