London student reported to police: "Enchanted by anarchism and individualism"

Payton Alexander

A headteacher in the London borough of Camden has come under fire by bloggers for reporting one of his students to police after reading the student's blog, which criticised the school and revealed the student's 'enchantment' with the philosophies of anarchism and individualism. The student, named Kinnan Zaloom, 19, operated the 'Hampstead Trash' blog as an outlet for his and his classmates' dissatisfaction with the practices of the Hampstead School and the conduct of its employees, lambasting the school's overspending on promotional material, lack of investment in musical instruments and gym equipment, insincere attempts to listen to pupils' views about the school, and a failure to raise GCSE results to a higher level.

The headteacher, in addition to reporting Zaloom to the police, phoned Glasgow University, where the student had applied to study, in an attempt to dissuade them from accepting him.

While the headteacher's actions may certainly be described as an overreaction, what is more worrying is his own justification for them.

Asked what had first inclined him to contact the police, Mr. Szemalikowski said "the fact that Kinnan has mentioned the ideologies of anarchism and individualism on this blog." Digging himself even deeper, the headteacher added, "I must do something. In the last year he has become more and more enchanted by antiestablishment ways of thinking and has even said that there is an inherent risk that every government is corrupt."

Posted by Jim Zellmer at September 18, 2013 1:32 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas