Simon Langton Boys’ Grammar School in Canterbury has reportedly sparked outrage on the internet by creating a deliberately ‘unsafe space’ for pupils to argue the merits of feminism and study Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. The optional after-school sessions are extremely popular.
It is ironic for outrage to be expressed on the internet, home to outrages that have damaged so many young lives by exposing them to appalling images in their formative years. Young people are also exposed to extremist rants, and surely it is better for them to discuss these rationally, and challenge them at school or college – the perfect safe space for debate.
Sarah Cundy, an 18-year-old pupil at the school, says that as a woman the sessions make her feel ‘completely unwelcome’; but she is also chair of Canterbury’s branch of Momentum, the Corbynista grass-roots organisation that specialises in intimidating opponents. Momentum would approve of one-sided diversity-and-victimhood brainwashing classes for children, but object to pupils being able to join in a debate because their version of diversity does not extend to opinions. Children need to learn to recognise right and wrong, not simply be taught to parrot political correctness.
