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PARENTAL PERSPECTIVES ON JEWISH EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES
A STUDY OF AN OFT-NEGLECTED STAKEHOLDER GROUP
EGON MAYER, PH.D.
Center for Jewish Studies The Graduate Center of the City University of New York November 2003

Published by The Center for Cultural Judaism March 2005

PARENTAL PERSPECTIVES
ON JEWISH EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES
A STUDY OF AN OFT-NEGLECTED STAKEHOLDER GROUPEgon Mayer, Ph.D. Center for Jewish Studies The Graduate Center of the City University of New York November 2003

March 2005 Published by The Center for Cultural Judaism 224 West 35th Street, Suite 410 New York, NY 10001 Tel: 212-564-6711 Fax: 212-564-6721 www.culturaljudaism.org
Myrna Baron, Editor Data review and verification by Dr. Susan Prager, Adjunct Assistant Professor, BrooklynCollege Department of Sociology and Stern College for Women ISBN 0-9742420-3-9

TABLE OF CONTENTS
IN MEMORY PREFACE
BY FELIX POSEN P. 3 P. 4

LIST OF EXHIBITS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION METHODOLOGY
THE NFO PANEL SAMPLING CRITERIA QUESTIONNAIRE

P. 5 P. 6 P. 10 P. 12 P. 13 P. 13 P. 14 P. 14 P. 14 P. 15 P. 20 P. 23 P. 39 P. 40 P. 40 P. 41 P. 42 P. 46 P. 47 P. 48

FINDINGS
CHILDREN ANDHOUSEHOLDS CURRENT JEWISH EDUCATION FUTURE JEWISH EDUCATION WHAT ATTRACTS AND WHAT DOESN’T

CONCLUSIONS APPENDIX
A. DEMOGRAPHIC COMPARISON AJIS 2001 AND NFO PARENTS’ SURVEY 2003 B. STATES WITHIN REGIONS C. DATA OF ATTRACTION INDEXES D. AGE OF CHILDREN AND JEWISH STATUS OF PARENTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ENDNOTES

STUDY AVAILABLE ELECTRONICALLY AT WWW.CULTURALJUDAISM.ORG/CCJ/NEWS/25 FULLQUESTIONNAIRE AND FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION AVAILABLE ONLINE

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IN MEMORY
The Center for Cultural Judaism was honored to work closely with the late Egon Mayer on several studies of the American Jewish population. He was a leading demographer of the Jewish population, and his intelligence and insight brought greater understanding to the changing population, documented in two important studies hedirected in 2000, the American Religious Identity Survey (ARIS) and the American Jewish Identity Survey (AJIS), the first studies in North America to examine secularity as well as religiosity. The results of Dr. Mayer’s work are vitally important to the Center for Cultural Judaism, which was established largely in response to the AJIS findings that nearly half of America's adult Jews regard themselvesas secular or somewhat secular. Another significant finding is that the number of children born to the secular segment of the Jewish adult population increased dramatically over a decade, up from 307,000 in 1990 to 590,000 in 2001. The increasing number of children in the secular Jewish population — and their experience with any kind of formal Jewish education — is a critical category to furtherexplore. This new study of parental expectations of their children’s Jewish education provides an important understanding of this population. This was Dr. Mayer’s final study, completed in late 2003 with incredible dedication just months before his death. We were inspired by his commitment to complete the data analysis in the face of his illness. He was unwavering in his love of Jewish peoplehoodand in his dedication to the idea of a more inclusive Jewish community. The subject of this study — children’s Jewish education — was immensely important to him. Professor Mayer’s work continues to inspire and guide us, as we, too, strive to bring greater understanding to the pluralistic nature of the Jewish population. Parents are the gatekeepers of their children’s Jewish education. To engagethem, we need to provide compelling educational programs that recognize and address their needs – on their terms. This important study provides insight into how to meet some of those needs. We extend our appreciation to Dr. Susan Prager, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Brooklyn College Department of Sociology and Stern College for Women, a colleague of Dr. Mayer who worked with us after his death to...