Eton Reinvents Itself

With its 566-year heritage and its renowned commitment to excellence and breeding, Eton College is changing its ways to prepare boys for success in a more democratic and globalized world. Despite the revisions the venerable academy is making to its lesson plans, readers complained that the school is still too exclusionary

I was disappointed by your article on Eton [June 26]. You stated that “the role of women is still peculiar” in the college. I call it outrageous! As you noted, Eton may be hiring more women teachers and naming its first female housemaster, but why doesn’t the school accept female students? You reported on the financial-aid campaign that is supposed to integrate less privileged groups into the élite. But what about the biggest group of underprivileged people in Europe: women? I’m appalled by such gender discrimination in our supposedly progressive Europe of the 21st century!
Maxi Schmeisser
Bamberg, Germany

Your reporting on Eton stated that the school “has for many Britons come to symbolize unfair privilege.” That’s certainly how I see it. The boys on the cover are emblematic of inherited social advantage, wealth and the injustice of England’s class system. I’d guess that parents put up thousands of pounds before the boys were born to reserve a place at Eton, where students learn they are superior to the plebian proletarians in nearby downtown Slough.
Kenneth Carman
Basildon, England

The story on Eton College was very revealing about the high standard of education upheld by a dedicated team of teachers. However, you helped fuel the unfair impression that Eton is very exclusive. Every year Eton awards scholarships to poor children from state schools in England, and has instituted other programs to make the school available to the underprivileged. Eton’s reputation as an enclave for the wealthy is undeserved.
Ann O’Doye
London

Next Best Thing to a Cure
time reported on the growing demand in Europe for alternative treatments for illness [June 26]. I’ve been a complementary practitioner for more than eight years and have successfully treated many patients who had tried everything that mainstream medicine had to offer, sometimes repeatedly, but whose conditions still remained painful. The success of my work resides in engaging a patient’s mind-set, by giving honest opinions, time and simple strategies to aid recovery. I disapprove of the word cure, for no such thing exists. Good health is about balance, and ill health occurs when the balance in the body is lost. If one can encourage rebalancing the mind, body and spirit, then health is a natural outcome.
Diksha Chakravarti
Reading, England

While some complementary therapies may be harmless placebos, they typically involve a lot of interaction between patient and practitioner. By contrast, conventional medicine is often run like a production line that goes all out for speed. Communication with patients is cut back to the point where informed-consent ethics are ignored, clinical standards suffer, and misdiagnosis and mistreatment are commonplace. No wonder patients are dissatisfied and seek help elsewhere.
Andrew Smith
Reading, England

High-Tech Referees
Re “Technophobia” [June 26], your article on why high-tech solutions aren’t being used to reduce referee errors in football: Football’s world governing body — the Fédération Internationale de Football Association — shouldn’t be so closed-minded about the effects of modern technology in assisting referees. Its argument that video consultation affects the speed and fluidity of the game may be valid for now. But it must allow for experimentation. Technology evolves. Maybe someday the technology will be improved so that it won’t disrupt the game. What we fans want is entertainment, fair play and justice in refereeing. It is annoying when a team puts up its best against an opponent, only to lose the game to the referee.
Elvis Ahanonu
Jos, Nigeria

time recommended giving football the same number of officials as tennis and rugby matches use. But just one more assistant referee with a TV set would be enough. Referee errors get more annoying as TV coverage matures to perfection: instant slow-motion replays from different angles show exactly whether a foul was real or faked, a hand blocked a shot from scoring, or a player stood offside. Everyone can see what really happened, except the referee who has to make the call. The referee reviewing the video replay could communicate with his colleague on the field over his earphones in a matter of seconds — a short time lag to forestall crucial injustice and worldwide frustration.
Nicolas Gessner
Paris

Taking On Terrorists
I am glad that the U.S. military forces finally killed terrorist leader Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi [June 19]. But does that solve the problem of terrorism? No. President Bush must begin to lead by example instead of force. Democracy cannot be exported from a land where human rights are abused and ignored. Democracy is not a coalition of willing armed forces but a coalition of people. The world’s problems today can be solved only by inculcating the maxim that the pen is mightier than the sword rather than the one that says power flows from the barrel of a gun.
Samuel Nwankwo
Madrid

The cover picture of al-Zarqawi with a red X on his face was insensitive and frankly revolting. To revel in the death of a fellow human being, no matter how hateful to you his actions may have been, is no way to encourage the cessation of terrorist activities or bring opposing parties to the mediation table. Ask any South African. We heard just the same tales regarding the terrorists and had all the same propaganda assault our ears, plus harsh laws to assure our safety. The result? The so-called terrorists are now the benign rulers and are making a success of the country and race relations.
William Gould
Oudtshoorn, South Africa

Crossing out al-Zarqawi’s face in blood red sent a strong message. He was an embodiment of evil who deserved his fate, and your graphic statement was right on the money. Still, I bet that you received lots of protests from softhearted readers decrying the image.
Paul G. Rees
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.

Profiting from Time Off
I enjoyed Po Bronson’s essay on how Americans are unable to relax [June 26]. In a global economy in which a day’s meetings might start at 5 a.m. and not end until 11 p.m., we never get a chance to turn ourselves off. We are getting worn out. Our business leaders need to realize that people who work all the time don’t spend as much money on goods and services. If America’s workers could take their earned vacation, their time away from work might give the economy a kick.
Louis Sivo
Santa Clara, California, U.S.

A City on the Seas
Re “A whale of a boat” [June 19]: not only do behemoth cruise ships such as Freedom of the Seas clog ports and squeeze in huge numbers of passengers, they also dump city-size volumes of sewage and bilgewater — some of it treated, but much of it not. Every day these vessels foul harbors and coastal waters with millions of gallons of filthy water and pollute the air with diesel fumes. Cruise ships are exempt from most U.S. pollution laws. Until Congress increases regulation, floating cities will continue to foul our seas and air.
Teri Shore
Bluewater Network
San Francisco

Marines Under Fire
Reading about the allegations that U.S. Marines killed Iraqi civilians in Haditha was an extremely sickening experience [June 12]. I would call the episode a massacre. What right do the Marines have to butcher innocent people? It’s high time the U.S. stopped claiming it is liberating the Iraqi people. Americans have no business being in Iraq, and yet they have the nerve to rationalize the massacre by claiming that the Marines work under pressure. Is the U.N. sleeping?
Sandeep Dawkhar
Bombay