A grammar school in Kent,Kelly the Coed 1 (1999) England, is under scrutiny again for reasons that are loosely connected to the alt-right movement in the U.S.
SEE ALSO: Alt-right blogger Milo Yiannopoulos banned from speaking at his former schoolSimon Langton grammar school for boys in Canterbury was under fire last year for inviting former pupil Milo Yiannopoulous to speak at the school.
Now it has announced plans to create an "unsafe space" to discuss texts including Mein Kampf and topics such as the infamous memo by ex-Google employee James Damore, who claimed there are "biological causes" that prevent more women from getting jobs in tech.
The forum, aimed at sixth form pupils, is described as “an antidote to the poison of political correctness” -- hence the name, which seems to deliberately mock the "safe spaces" in universities and academies -- to analyse “the most beautifully disturbed and disturbing ideas, all of them presented without trigger warnings”, according to The Guardian.
But some pupils have expressed their dismay at the forum's subject. Labour activist Sarah Cundy, 18, tweeted:
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"The notion of an unsafe space is making fun of safe spaces, which are necessary in protecting people from re-living personal trauma. To joke at these spaces is to joke at [the mental health problems of] the people who use them," Cundy told Mashable.
"The idea of an antidote to political correctness is dangerous, political correctness protects minorities from being subject to hate speech, the idea that protecting minorities from that is a repression of freedom of speech is ignoring the infringement on minorities’ freedoms that that causes," she continued.
Cundy and another pupil, Connie Kissock, maintain that the professor in charge of the forum, James Soderholm, mocked the LGBTQ community during the presentation for the forum.
He reportedly used a longer acronym for LGBT, adding a string of letters and numbers as to make fun of it. A librarian who worked on the presentation denied there was any derogatory intent, claiming he found the acronym online.
But Cundy said: "It may not have been intended as a joke at their expense but most students took it as such -- even members of the community who had never heard this elongated term."
Kissock added: “As a female student, when I hear male teachers promoting anti-feminist ideas it makes me worry, particularly in an all-male environment. Especially among younger students, it can seem like a joke but end up being taken further.”
"The notion of an unsafe space is making fun of safe spaces, which are necessary in protecting people from re-living personal trauma."
Prof Soderholm told The Guardianthe "unsafe space" is "a much-needed forum for debate about a host of issues seen from both sides of the ideological spectrum."
"We are not interested in fomenting xenophobia, racism or sexism. We are interested in evaluating arguments, not putting stilts under postures," he said.
Headteacher Matthew Baxter said Mein Kampfwill not be part of an in-depth study but just part of a wider debate.
He added: “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.”
Mashable has contacted the school for comment and will update the article accordingly.
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