Students study Mein Kampf in 'unsafe space' as 'antidote to poison of political correctness'
Students split over ‘unsafe space’ that looks at Mein Kampf as antidote to ‘political correctness'
(about 9 hours later)
A school notorious for inviting alt-right speaker Milo Yiannopoulos to speak has introduced a controversial new program called ‘unsafe space,’ where students will study Mein Kampf and learn that not all cultures, genders, and sexual orientations are equal.
Students from the Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys in Kent have hit back at negative portrayals of their school after details emerged of a planned ‘unsafe space’ program described as being an antidote to the ‘poison of political correctness.'
Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys in Canterbury, where Yiannopoulos was once a student, is causing another stir after creating the ‘unsafe space’ forum for sixth-form students. The program is described as the “antidote to the poison of political correctness” and will examine “the most beautifully disturbed and disturbing ideas, all of them presented without trigger warnings.”
Earlier, RT reported that the school had introduced a controversial new program that would see students debate Hitler’s Mein Kampf, and discuss polarising content such as a memo sent out by fired Google employee James Damore, who claimed that female engineers are less skilled than their male counterparts.
Simon Langton is an all-boys school until sixth form, when it becomes co-ed. Multiple female students have complained to the Guardian about the ‘unsafe space’ course.
Sarah Cundy, a pupil in form six, told the Guardian that a teacher told students the forum would highlight the pros and cons of Damore’s argument.
One girl told the paper that Professor James Soderholm, the director of humanities and teacher in charge of the controversial program, had previously made jokes about the LGBT community by adding extra letters and numbers to the acronym in mockery.
“To hear a teacher say there are any pros at all in the argument did make me feel pretty uncomfortable,” she said. “I think female and minority students are going to face more issues. I think there will be a rise in sexism, which I would say is already an issue at the school – especially with it being an all-boys school except sixth form,” the 18-year-old added.
It is understood that Soderholm told pupils that the first session of the course would look at a memo sent out by axed Google employee James Damore. In the memo, Damore claimed that female engineers are inferior and less skilled compared to their male peers.
Student Connie Kissock, also 18, said she was “worried” by “teachers promoting anti-feminist ideas.” She added that while she “definitely support[s] discussing a broad range of ideas in academic environments,” she thinks that invited speakers and lectures have “become an attack on what they see as leftist bias. We’ve had a speaker on women’s anti-feminism, we’re going to have one on why all cultures aren’t equal, implying that non-Western cultures are inferior.”
Sarah Cundy, 18, said the teacher told students the forum would highlight the pros and cons of Damore’s argument.
Another student, Joshua Ashley-Jones, described a tweet opposing the view of Cundy as untrue. Ashley-Jones also told RT that the group of students who had complained about (what they believed to be) a mockery of the LGBT community actually did not understand the acronym with additional letters and numbers. He also said that a planned speaker attending the program will be of “high academic credibility, to explain why she believes that Liberal democracy is the best political method to adopt.”
“To hear a teacher say there are any pros at all in the argument did make me feel pretty uncomfortable,” she said. “I think female and minority students are going to face more issues. I think there will be a rise in sexism, which I would say is already an issue at the school – especially with it being an all-boys school except sixth form.”
Year 13 students Matthew Moore, Doulton Hall and Joshua Cotter also defended the adding of extra letters to the LGBT acronym, stating that the term used in a previous school presentation “was LGBTQQIP2SAA, which is an extended acronym outlined by the 'Huffington Post' and 'Citizens Project' in order to extend the acronym to refer to the whole community out of respect,” the students said.
Another student echoed Cundy’s concerns. Connie Kissock, also 18, said she was “worried” by “teachers promoting anti-feminist ideas.” Kissock also said while she “definitely support[s] discussing a broad range of ideas in academic environments” she thinks that the invited speakers and lectures organized by Soderholm have “become an attack on what they see as leftist bias. We’ve had a speaker on women’s anti-feminism, we’re going to have one on why all cultures aren’t equal, implying that non-Western cultures are inferior.”
The trio told RT that they viewed the bad press about the program as an “an inequitable portrayal of Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys' intentions regarding the opening of the Tong Centre,” which opens in a few week’s time.
Headteacher Matthew Baxter said the Kent school "encourages free speech,” defending the course on the grounds that it was designed to help students prepare for university, where pupils will discuss ideas outside of the conventional curriculum.
“As three students currently in our final year of the school's sixth form, for the past two years, we have eagerly anticipated the arrival of the centre, proposing an education that breaches the reductive restraints of the national curriculum through such programs as 'LED-Talks' (a series of student-led lectures),” they said.
“These are topics which sixth form students routinely discuss in their own time and ones which they should be able to discuss with adults in a school which encourages ‘free speech’ in all the highest academic traditions of such a phrase,” Baxter said. “This does not mean that inappropriate language is permitted – as this is checked and modelled when students are much younger.”
The three boys told RT the accusations “failed to truthfully present what was put forward in the introductory lecture that was delivered to the sixth form student body on Monday,” but did not outline what they believed to be the truth.
In 2016, the school cancelled their lecture with Yiannopoulos after significant backlash from the public. The school was also contacted by the Department of Education’s (DfE) counter-terrorism unit in relation to the talk. The school said the talk had been cancelled due to safety concerns.
Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys is already in the public eye for inviting alt-right speaker Milo Yiannopoulos to speak on campus, before cancelling the event after a barrage of complaints and concerns raised by the Department of Education’s counter-terrorism unit.
“The decision was taken following contact from the DfE counter-extremism unit, the threat of demonstrations at the school by organised groups and members of the public, and our overall concerns for the security of the school site and the safety of our community,” a school spokesman told the Press Association in 2016.
“We note that, within 24 hours of advertising the event, 220 Langton sixth-formers had, with parental consent, signed up for the event and that objection to our hosting Mr Yiannopoulos came almost entirely from people with no direct connection to the Langton. The staff and students of the school were overwhelmingly in favor.
“While disappointed that both the pastoral care and intellectual preparation we offer to our students has been called into question, we at the Langton remain committed to the principle of free speech and open debate and will resist, where possible, all forms of censorship.”
