"Teacher Cancelled by Eton for Controversial Lecture Speaks Out"

“I went into education and to Eton in particular because I like the excitement of rigorous discussion, of debate.

I like challenging, not just other people’s viewpoints, but my own as well and this is why free speech is so, so valuable because it enables that kind of discussion that means the rough edges can be taken off ideas.

And one question people often have is, ‘Do you think everything in the video is completely true?’

The whole point is that I’m not actually really sure, and the discussion should be had so we can all learn more from it.

Like the proverb says, ‘The pearl is formed by abrasion.’

We need the marketplace of ideas to be able to actually find out which ones stand the test of that kind of conflict.”

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“One of the markers of adulthood is actually being willing to seek out intellectual and emotional challenge, and I think people retard their own development if they don’t deliberately seek that out, cus you stay in your comfort zone continually.

That’s seen as a bad thing in many walks of life, I think in intellectual life it should be the same. You should be taking sides against yourself in order to find out fully what you think.

If you do say that kids always need to be kept safe, then the counter-argument would be, just as with avoidance with anxiety actually entrenching anxiety, I think it just means that the range of ideas your willing to explore and able to explore narrows and narrows and narrows.”