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2020-11-29 g
YOU CAN'T SAY THAT II
'1984 was meant to be satire, not a how-to manual.'

800 Etonians in revolt after teacher is sacked for questioning radical feminist dogma on 'toxic masculinity' as war on (un)woke hits Britain's top school

•Will Knowland taught English at £42,500-a-year Berkshire school for nine years
•Mr Knowland said he was dismissed over a lesson titled 'The Patriarchy Paradox'
•It was made as a virtual lecture to be put on the intranet - but it was never aired
•Headmaster Simon Henderson dismissed Mr Knowland for gross misconduct

It's said that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton. Two centuries later, Britain's most venerable school has become a battleground in the War on Woke.

On one side is English teacher Will Knowland, who was fired after standing up for his belief that students need to hear a broad range of opinions.

On the other is headmaster Simon Henderson, who sacked him for gross misconduct amid the fallout from a lecture about the nature of masculinity.

Hundreds of pupils and members of the wider Eton community have now accused the school of hypocrisy, cruelty and a 'complete lack of backbone', and asked if Eton was 'protecting its new image as politically progressive at the expense of one of its own'.

In a petition supporting Mr Knowland, they say: 'Young men and their views are formed in the meeting and conflict of ideas... which necessarily entails controversy and spirited discussion.'

Mr Knowland, they add, 'is loved by all who have encountered him' and the students 'feel morally bound not to be bystanders in what appears to be an instance of institutional bullying'.

It's a plea of such erudition that any English teacher, not just one in a politically correct pickle, would be delighted to know his students had written. It may not, however, be sufficient to save him.

'Eton has been here for almost 600 years,' said one source close to the conflict. 'And this is a battle for its very soul. Cancel culture has arrived with cult groupthink reaching right into the heart of the school. It's meant to be a bastion of learning and free speech. George Orwell went to Eton. What would he think?

... 'The headmaster felt some of the ideas put forward – such as the view that men and women differ psychologically and not all of those differences are socially constructed – were too dangerous for the boys to be exposed to,' Mr Knowland wrote to his colleagues.

'At Eton… we have always prioritised open, rigorous, discussion over concepts like 'safe space', 'trigger warnings', and 'micro-aggressions'. I am concerned the college is in danger of succumbing to an educational trend that prioritises emotional safety over intellectual challenge. That's why I staked my career on my belief in freedom of speech.'

But, he acknowledges: 'They have the power to stop me setting foot in a classroom again. If that happens, I'm not sure how I will make a living.'

... 'He was treated in a very high handed, vindictive and aggressive way,' says the Eton insider. 'Will Knowland essentially challenged this woke ethos the head and some of his colleagues are trying to embed in the school. They seem to have got it into their heads that Eton has to be trying harder than anyone else to look progressive, but they're over-compensating.

'The head seems to think, misguidedly, that if it gets out that Eton is teaching a course saying masculinity isn't toxic, it will be used by a woke mob to criticise the school, that they'll be accused of upholding the patriarchy.' (read more)

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