Happy Head, Chilly Children, Troubled Teachers, Perplexed Parents, Riled Readers - an example of authoritarian eco-arrogance at work

First the Head:

Quote from article 'The school's headmaster, Rob Benzie, shut down the radiators as an experiment to show students how the school could cut its carbon footprint.

''We turned off the heating as an experiment to see if we can lower our carbon footprint,' he said.

'We allowed pupils to wear as many jumpers as they liked and everyone seemed to be happy enough although it did get pretty chilly."


Then the children:
'Pupils at Ansford Academy in Castle Cary, Somerset, were forced to grip their pens through thick gloves and wear their coats and hats in class as temperatures dropped to 1C.'

And the teachers:
'One teacher said: 'It was absolutely ridiculous I have never experienced working in such cold conditions.
'I am all for saving the environment but to conduct an "experiment" as the head calls it on such a cold day is beyond stupid.
'The kids were complaining, no one was working properly some of them could not even write because they could not grip a pen through woolly gloves.
'We have a number of pupils with mental and physical disabilities here and they really struggled with the cold.
'It was unnecessary and in my opinion barbaric.' 

And the parents:
' mother, whose 12-year-old daughter goes to the school, said: 'My daughter was physically shaking when she came home.'When I heard about this eco day I was absolutely furious.
'I wanted to take my daughter out of school but I was worried I'd get into trouble with the authorities.'

and

'One father said: 'I was just shocked when I found out what had happened.
'I have never heard of such a ridiculous idea. Turning off all the heating in December is just mental.

'The kids could get sick I can't believe any of them learnt anything.

'I know when I am cold I can hardly function. I'm absolutely furious with the school.' 


Finally, the readers: 
Here are the currently top-rated comments to the Daily Mail article from which the above quotes are taken:

Another idiot who shouldn't have any contact with impressionable youngsters.

- Tommy Cockles, Liverpool, 6/12/2011 7:18

Yet another eco-loony who thinks he can 'save the planet'. The planet can take care of itself, as it has done for billions of years.

- Owd Tyke, Devon, 6/12/2011 8:20

These are the teachers preparing the next generation for the work-place - Heaven help us! Typical leftie - more obsessed with a trendy ideology than teaching his pupils the three R's. These are the sort of people who ban religious instruction because they consider it superstition yet embrace with boundless enthusaism the new 'religion' of man-made climate change, which is pure fantasy.

- Gibbo, Stansted, Essex, 6/12/2011 7:20

What better way to teach children that climate alarmists are nutty?

- Casey, Maine, US, 6/12/2011 8:07

There is nothing more dangerous in life than a man (or woman) with a cause. Such people lose commonsense and it becomes impossible to reason with them

- Jeremy R, Sheffield, England, 6/12/2011 8:33

he is breaking the HSE rules on heating a work place.

- Geoff , Cleveland, 6/12/2011 9:15

I think I agree with all the top-rated commenters to this article in the Daily Mail.  Here is an example of someone who should not be in a position of such control over the young.  He clearly needs help himself to deal with his neurosis.  Inflicting it on others is not forgiveable unless he has completely lost the plot, in which case the failing lies with the education authority which continues to employ him.  His action does indeed seem to be illegal, as he has some duty of care.  The whole sorry business is a tiny example of the narcissistic inhumane authoritarianism of the 'green movement'.

Note added 7 Dec 2011

And now the blogs.  This story has been picked up quite widely today, and by some widely read, influential sites.  Here are three of them:

(1) Instapundit

‘#GREENFAIL: Children left to freeze in the classrooms after head turns off heating on coldest day of year ‘to show how school can be eco-friendly.’ It’s a valuable lesson: “Eco-Friendly” just means “in the hands of the smug and sadistic.”
UPDATE: Michael Tinkler notes that at least nobody’s blowing them up. So far.'

(2) The Daily Bayonet:

Lessons in Hypothermia

Hippies hate kids. How else to explain their murderous, misanthropic meanness toward moppets?
A headmaster at a British school decided a great lesson in sustainability would be to turn off the heat for a day. In December:

(3) The Register:

Headmaster freezes schoolkids for Gaia

Earth Goddess requires sacrifices

By Andrew Orlowski

Posted in Environment, 7th December 2011 08:02 GMT

Pagan gods traditionally required human sacrifices – preferably of children – and a West Country academy school appears to be leading the way. To give pupils a lesson in "sustainability" they'll never forget, headmaster Rob Benzie of Ansford Academy in Castle Cary, Somerset, ordered a "No Power Day ... as an experiment to see if we can lower our carbon footprint".

Added later still on 7 Dec 2011
WUWT is covering it too.  This sure is catching attention!
'The local school authority and parents should probably teach Mr. Benzie the lesson that freezing children to push a radical green agenda makes his job unsustainable, before he does something really stupid.'

Note added 8 Dec 2011
It can be instructive to look at the data.  Here are the values of Max and Min temp in degC recorded at a Met Office station in the same county as this school.  The data are for Yeovilton, and can be downloaded from here

Whichever bit of 'global warming' was exercising the headmaster, it surely was not in SW England.









Note added 6 Feb 2012: more headmasterly stupidity in the name of Gaia: http://dailybayonet.com/2012/02/green-pee/


Note added 12 Sep 2013: the link to the original article in the Daily Mail seems to be dead.  Here is a much shorter report still up on Fox News: http://nation.foxnews.com/freezing/2011/12/06/kids-freeze-after-school-turns-heating-save-planet