A plea for the removal of Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice” from the reading list in Syracuse high schools has been brought before the Board of Education by the local Good-Will Committee, an interdenominational group. In the plea it is stated that the character of Shylock, as portrayed by Shakespeare in this play, has been responsible ‘for an unfair and malicious conception of Jews”.
In answer to this Dr. G. Carl Alverson, superintendent of schools, stated yesterday that the “Merchant of Venice” is not required reading in the highschool English course. “In my many years of teaching ‘The Merchant of Venice’ I have never before heard a complaint about the book from either pupils or parents”, said Mr. Alverson.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
