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Last update - 13:07 03/03/2008
U.K. Jewish pupils boycott Shakespeare test over Bard's anti-Semitism
By Haaretz Service
Tags: jew, anti-semitism 

A number of girls taking the English national curriculum test at a Jewish school in Britain refused to answer required questions on Shakespeare, in protest over his portrayal of the Jewish character Shylock, a U.K. newspaper reported.

According to the Independent, the school has plummeted in educational rankings, after authorities annulled the test results of the nine students who boycotted questions.

The 14-year-old girls, whose actions were supported by their parents, The Independent said were protesting anti-Semitism in Shakespeare's portrayal of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. The exam questions they refused to answer were actually about The Tempest, a different work of Shakespeare's.
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"Many Jewish people would not listen to Wagner on the same grounds," The Independent quoted school principal Rabbi Abraham Pinter as saying. "I do not see an exact comparison and I don't share their view, but their decision is something I respect," he said, adding "I think Shakespeare was reflecting the ethos of the time in his portrayal of Shylock. If he was alive today, he would probably be going on anti-war marches."

Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls' School, an Orthodox Jewish school with 249 pupils, was a private school until two years ago, when it took advantage of new government legislation allowing independent schools to opt in to the state sector, the paper noted. "It was launched as a state school with a high-profile visit from Tony Blair, then prime minister."

Pinter said past students had protested in this way, but their other marks were not forfeited as they had signed their names on the test papers. The Shakespeare section of the exam counts for 18 percent of students' overall marks, allowing students who achieve high scores in other parts of it to pass even without answering it.

However, Rabbi Pinter said: "I think it was a bit harsh to remove all their marks. Next year I will be recommending they put their name on the paper."

He said the school was not worried by its league table position, stating: "274th out of more than 3,000 is still good." He added that it was important for young people to be able to express their sincerely held views.

The newspaper quoted Simon Gibbons, of the National Association for the Teaching of English, as saying, "I do not believe The Merchant of Venice is anti-Semitic. But it is noble of the school to take the view that the individual pupils' views are more important than their league table position."

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  1.   i bet the kids don`t even understand Shakespeare 09:19  |  Leona 03/03/08
  2.   This is great 09:47  |  Colin Wright 03/03/08
  3.   Good reason not to study the Old Testament too 09:52  |  Chanalau, Tova 03/03/08
  4.   joanna epstein 10:04  |  brainwashed students 03/03/08
  5.   I KNEW IT 10:14  |  indrajaya 03/03/08
  6.   Who is teaching? 10:15  |  Marisa 03/03/08
  7.   kudos to these kids 10:23  |  Ashley Meyers 03/03/08
  8.   Something rotten 10:25  |  Horatio 03/03/08
  9.   Merchant 10:33  |  Sherlock Holmes 03/03/08
  10.   anti-Semitic over used 10:38  |  SJ 03/03/08
  11.   Deeply anti-semitic Shakespeare 10:39  |  Clickfool 03/03/08
  12.   Shakespear 10:39  |  Naim S. Mahlab 03/03/08
  13.   Anti-semitism in Britain 10:45  |  US CITIZEN 03/03/08
  14.   Try reading books instead of boycotting them! 11:04  |  Adam Baker 03/03/08
  15.   then they fail the exam 11:09  |  mehmet 03/03/08
  16.   Much ado about nothing 11:10  |  Danny 03/03/08
  17.   Shakespeare & anti-Semitism 11:19  |  Nehemia 03/03/08
  18.   Shakespeare & anti-Semitism 11:28  |  Nehemia 03/03/08
  19.   #1 Joanna Epstein 11:41  |  Question Mark 03/03/08
  20.   Shakespeare & Shylock 11:46  |  Nehemia 03/03/08
  21.   Me thinks the students doth protest too much 11:47  |  The Queen 03/03/08
  22.   read the play ....... 12:00  |  bingbong 03/03/08
  23.   THE VOICES OF THE MIDDLE AGES)))) 12:18  |  Robert 03/03/08
  24.   typical English anti-semitism 12:32  |  Seth 03/03/08
  25.   Today Shakespear wrote.... 12:35  |  kiwi girl 03/03/08
  26.   Well put joanna 12:40  |  kiwi girl 03/03/08
  27.   # ashley 12:41  |  Axel 03/03/08
  28.   Shakespeare made fun of everybody and everything 12:41  |  Ron 03/03/08
  29.   Anti-anti-semitism laws in Germany etc 12:47  |  Fritz T. 03/03/08
  30.   First step to sectarism 12:50  |  Zirbry 03/03/08
  31.   #13 Seth 12:51  |  Adam 03/03/08
  32.   on Art & politics 12:52  |  European Jew 03/03/08
  33.   #5 Christians are Jews too 12:52  |  Edith 03/03/08
  34.   #13 Seth there is no safe haven... 12:54  |  Edith 03/03/08
  35.   Read Orwell on Antisemitism in Britain 13:08  |  Question Mark 03/03/08
  36.   Too right! 13:29  |  io 03/03/08
  37.   Kiwi girl and Clickfool 13:34  |  Nik Miller 03/03/08
  38.   Kiwi girl and Clickfool 13:34  |  Nik Miller 03/03/08
  39.   Mehmet - from what pulpit? 13:42  |  io 03/03/08
  40.   I read The Merchant of Venice. Yep. 13:48  |  Raphael 03/03/08
  41.   Strange happenings in Stamford Hill 13:58  |  K 03/03/08
  42.   It is anti-semitic 14:14  |  Michael Berg 03/03/08
  43.   Reply to #10 14:14  |  Joe 03/03/08
  44.   How about Moby Dick? 14:14  |  Axel 03/03/08
  45.   What next? 14:16  |  Chris Linthwaite 03/03/08
  46.   Reply to #21 14:17  |  Joseph 03/03/08
  47.   Judeo Taliban for Females 14:24  |  Yaakov Sullivan 03/03/08
  48.   #35 Nik Miller 14:26  |  Chris Linthwaite 03/03/08
  49.   #31 Edith 14:35  |  Boycott 03/03/08
  50.   Raphael, What these Girls Did 14:36  |  Yaakov Sullivan 03/03/08
  51.   so stupid!! 14:37  |  a jew 03/03/08
  52.   For Question Mark, who quotes George Orwell # 33 14:38  |  Clickfool 03/03/08
  53.   Stamford Hill Jews 14:40  |  Yaakov Sullivan 03/03/08
  54.   #3 Indrajaya 14:42  |  Moshe 03/03/08
  55.   Get them off 14:42  |  Ron 03/03/08
  56.   In defence of Shakespeare 14:42  |  AliciaYasmeen 03/03/08
  57.   Those girls deserve a good spanking! 14:46  |  Austin Powers 03/03/08
  58.   #38 Raphael 14:47  |  Boycott 03/03/08
  59.   On literary anti-semitism 14:47  |  Clickfool 03/03/08
  60.   Shakespeare & Antisemitism 14:51  |  Nehemia 03/03/08
  61.   Axel on Moby Dick 14:51  |  Yaakov Sullivan 03/03/08
  62.   #9 cf 14:52  |  Moshe 03/03/08
  63.   #43 Chris 15:06  |  Moshe 03/03/08
  64.   io, tu sei confuso 15:10  |  mehmet 03/03/08
  65.   Chanalau Tova, what of Song of Songs? 15:11  |  Yaakov Sullivan 03/03/08
  66.   #9 boris the clucking fool misses the point again 15:15  |  v hardman 03/03/08
  67.   #54 Alicia 15:17  |  Moshe 03/03/08
  68.   For Yaakov Sullivan # 51 15:21  |  Clickfool 03/03/08
  69.   Ashley Meyers # 5 It is not allowed in American schools either 15:28  |  American in NY 03/03/08
  70.   Ridiculous!Shakespeare portrays a remarkably sympathetic characte 15:35  |  lakshmi 03/03/08
  71.   # 23 Na He would have wrote 15:35  |  petra 03/03/08
  72.   Seth # 22 15:36  |  American in NY 03/03/08
  73.   #53 Ron 15:37  |  K