A demand for the removal of Dickens’ “Oliver Twist” from the required reading list of Perty Amboy High School was made here this week-end to the Board of Education by the local Teachers Union. The union requested that the book be replaced by a more suitable work by Dickens because Fagin is presented in “Oliver Twist” as “the incarnation of everything evil” and is referred to “Hundreds of times” as “the Jew.”
The unions request was referred by the board to William G. McGinnis, superintendent of schools, for investigation and report. Dr. McGinnis indicated his decision will be given to the board this week. Jacob Deutsche, president of the union, emphasized that “we do not favor book-burning and we don’t oppose having the book read by nature adults or being on library shelves, but we do object to its being compulsory reading for high school freshmen.”
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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.
