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1 correction found
asked students to write to a famous author & ask for advice
The Xavier High School assignment was to write to favorite authors and invite them to visit the school, not to ask them for advice.
Full reasoning
This post appears to mix up what the students were assigned to ask with what Vonnegut chose to say in his reply.
Multiple published accounts of the episode say Ms. Lockwood's 2006 Xavier High School assignment was for students to write to their favorite authors asking them to visit the school:
- Letters of Note says the students "were asked to write to their favourite author and ask him or her to visit the school."
- The Guardian likewise says they were assigned "to write to their favourite authors and ask them to visit the school."
Vonnegut's reply did indeed contain advice about making art and "mak[ing] your soul grow," but that is different from saying the students were assigned to write and ask for advice. So the post's description of the original assignment is inaccurate.
2 sources
- 'Make your soul grow' - by Shaun Usher - Letters of Note
In 2006, a group of students at Xavier High School in New York City were given an assignment by their English teacher, Ms. Lockwood... they were asked to write to their favourite author and ask him or her to visit the school.
- Kurt Vonnegut's inspirational 'make your soul grow' letter performed by students - video | The Guardian
Back in 2006, a group of students at New York's Xavier High School were set an assignment - to write to their favourite authors and ask them to visit the school.