To begin with, to see how Cosby came to power and then abused it, you have to look at the background of Bill Cosby. Cosby was born in Philadelphia and is one of four sons of Henry Cosby Sr., who served in the U.S. Navy. During much of Cosby's early childhood, his father was away …show more content…
Early on, teachers noted him being a jester and not taking his studies seriously. One of his teachers noted that he should get involved with drama to do plays so he did. Another one of his teachers even said that, “William should become either a lawyer/actor because he lies so well”. However, even though Cosby joked around, he was also a strong leader. Many of his classmates believed in him, as he was captain for many sports teams, and was even elected class president. Besides Cosby joking around most of the time, he was actually very smart with a high IQ. Due to his High IQ teachers placed Cosby in gifted classes, but other hobbies distracted his school career. With all the sports he played, he found little time for school work and failed the 10th grade so he went to work. Cosby was a hard worker who found work and ended up liking it, but he didn’t see himself doing that for the rest of life. In 1956, Cosby wanted to follow his father’s footsteps so he enlisted in the Navy. He continued to sharpen his talent for humor, joking with fellow enlistees in the service. Cosby began work again bartending at a Philadelphia club to earn money.