It just keeps happening yet she persists. J.K. Rowling is a breath of fresh air from the usual voices in popular culture when it comes to social issues. Leftists don’t like breaths of fresh air, though, and Rowling continues to reap scorn for her honest opinion on a hot-button issue – transgenderism.
A private girl’s school in England, King’s High in Warwick, is the latest to cancel the highly successful author. Her name was to appear on one of the school’s houses, all named for “inspirational female figures.” I suppose we should be happy that the honorees aren’t being described as inspirational birthing people. In 2016, four women were named to be given the honor. Besides J.K. Rowling, Dame Judi Dench, Audrey Hepburn, and Emmeline Pankhurst were chosen. Rowling is in fine company in that group, no?
It was too good to be true. The high school, where tuition converts from GBP to USD to the tune of a little more than $17,000 per year, has decided to replace those four women with a new group that includes Jane Austen, Amelia Earhart, and Rosalind Franklin. That’s a good group, too. I didn’t know who Rosalind Franklin is so I checked. According to Wikipedia, she was “an English chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, coal, and graphite.” The new group is being described as “people who changed the world for the better.” “People”, not “women”, eh? This is a girl’s school, after all. Are they no longer allowed to say “women”? Ugh.
Today it is being reported by the Daily Mail that a decision was made in March by the school to change the names of the houses, which now number six in total.
In 2016, the school proudly announced the names of Rowling, Dench, Hepburn, and Pankhurst had been chosen by the students.
But it emerged today that in March this year the school – run by head teacher Dr Stephen Burley – had binned her and the other three off.
Over the past year Ms Rowling’s views on transgender rights have seen her criticised from some quarters.
Now King’s has six houses, this time named after Jane Austen, Amelia Earhart, Rosalind Franklin, Mary Seacole, Harriet Tubman and Malala Yousafzai.
MailOnline contacted the school asking why Ms Rowling’s house had been replaced and if it was connected to her views on the trans debate.
After initially saying they would respond they refused to comment, despite days of opportunity.
The new names were chosen by the students. Dr. Burley had the idea to ask them to make a list of “people who had changed the world for the better.”
He said of the name: ‘Changemakers are innovators and creative thinkers, inquisitive and open-minded, keen to test out new ideas and explore new ways of doing things.
‘Changemakers have a positive impact on others and their community through inspirational leadership, creative ideas, by demonstrating kindness, compassion, emotional intelligence and empathy.
‘Their commitment to leadership is driven by a sense of others rather than self, by a deep-rooted conviction about the importance of social responsibility and making a positive contribution to community.’
A longlist was whittled down to 19 whose portraits were put framed in a special gallery along with a mirror.
Neither JK Rowling, Dame Judy, Actress Hepburn or suffragette Pankhurst were among them.
Those 19 were then voted on and six were nominated as the new six houses names.
This isn’t the first time a school has taken Rowling’s name off a house. I wrote about another such action taken against her in January by a co-ed secondary school in England. The Boswells School in Chelmsford, Essex announced its decision to name a house in honor of Rowling and when some parents and staff complained, the school caved. As I wrote at that time, the school was happy to speak favorably of Rowling when she was chosen to be honored.
They insisted she was perfect for the ‘self-discipline’ themed house because ‘Rowling states that success takes constant practice, self-discipline and requires us to get up when we fail and try again.
‘However, if we do not complete the tasks we set ourselves, then we will never create a foundation of self-trust and discipline to improve on in the first place.’
It’s too bad the school chose to appease “some” parents and staff who lodged complaints instead of going with the majority of the school’s parents and staff. The school’s original opinion was correct. Rowling is indeed an inspirational public figure. Her personal success is one that any of the young girls could take a page from in their own lives. Imagine progressives being so woke that the personal success of a single mom who was briefly on public assistance and writing in coffee shops in Edinburgh to pursue her dream of getting her stories of Harry Potter published is not inspiring enough to override an opinion on sexuality they do not agree with. Progressives only have the capacity to deal with one opinion on any given subject and that opinion is their own. This is ruining education for the next generation. A main goal of education, especially higher education, is to teach students to listen to both sides of an argument and learn to reason, to form their own opinions. These days, they are fed progressive propaganda and are not allowed to have a thought of their own. It’s not education, it’s indoctrination.
Fortunately, Ms. Rowling persists. She continues to weigh in on transgenderism and that’s a good thing. She also is a strong voice to point out that much of the transgender culture cancels girls. Female athletes are being pushed aside in favor of transgender female athletes and that will eventually destroy women’s sports. Where are all the feminists? They should be applauding J.K. Rowling.
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