Letters to the Editor
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William Blake Misinterpreted
Elliott Banfield’s drawings in The New York Sun are a welcome addition. But in his most recent, “The Author of Liberty” [Opinion, January 28, 2005], he makes a significant mistake, an error in iconography that undermines his point.
Forgive me for being pedantic, but the portrait of Jehovah-Urizen he borrows from William Blake is in fact an evil presence. Blake shows him using a compass to create the world in order to suggest that Urizen restrains (not liberates) mankind.
A benevolent Creator, in Blake’s view, would need no compass. In Blake’s cosmology, only Jesus sets us free. Mr. Banfield is not alone in making this error, but it does demonstrate that he hasn’t read Blake’s “Europe,” for which this figure serves as an illustration. Otherwise, he’d realize that the title of his drawing runs counter to the image.
THOMAS DEPIETRO
Eastchester, N.Y.
Bribes Don’t Motivate Students
Many readers were undoubtedly amused by your article on tutoring companies offering bribes to get students to attend [“Test-Prep Firms Bribing Students Just to Show Up,” Julia Levy, Page 1, January 26, 2005]. In reality, a serious flaw underlies the situation.
I am in my 11th year of teaching at a public high school in Brooklyn. We offer free tutoring to students throughout the year, and have been since before I got here. The students simply fail to attend. In speaking to teachers from other schools, as well as reading their letters to local newspapers, I came to understand that the problem is actually system-wide.
We, too, offer “bribes” in terms of extra points or extra credit. Frankly, nothing works. The school system could have learned this by talking to teachers. But as in the case of the “educational reforms” that are being shoved down teachers’ throats, consulting teachers is absolutely the last thing the new Department of Education is willing to consider. Maybe not even the last thing.
GENE ROSTKER
Far Rockaway, N.Y.
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