First-Ever Survey of American Jewish Parents Finds Need for New Models of Children's Jewish Education

With cultural content, secular teachers, and different venues,
in final study by Egon Mayer, newly published by the Center for Cultural Judaism


NEW YORK, NY, April 29, 2005 - The Center for Cultural Judaism released a ground-breaking study of Parental Expectations of their Children's Jewish Education: A Study of An Oft-Neglected Stakeholder Group in a mailing this week to nearly 22,000 Jewish educators, professors and decision-makers in Jewish life. This was the final study completed by esteemed Professor Egon Mayer before his death last year, announced Myrna Baron, executive director of the Center for Cultural Judaism.

The newly published study, conducted under the auspices of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, is the first-ever survey undertaken in the United States of a representative sample of parents, that asked about their preferences regarding Jewish education.

This pioneering study provides particular insights into the attitudes and perceptions of Jewish education on the part of parents who are NOT providing their children with any formal Jewish education. This survey found that these parents would be more likely to prefer a secular teacher, want Jewish education to contain more "cultural elements" and fewer "religious elements," and prefer education that is outside of synagogue affiliation. "This is not a surprise to those of us who are working to engage Jews on the periphery of Jewish life - but it had never before been documented," explained Ms. Baron.

According to the data, cultural education resonates strongly among parents currently opting out of Jewish education for their children. Equally important, these same cultural elements are less likely to diminish the attractiveness of Jewish education - even for those parents who have greater preferences for the religious elements. In other words, this study found that cultural Jewish education would have positive impact, and insignificant negative results.

According to Felix Posen of the Posen Foundation, which underwrote the study by Dr. Mayer, "The results are not only groundbreaking, but confirm our long-standing view about the importance of the role of secular Jews in every facet of Jewish life, including education. One can only hope that finally some of America's Jewish educators will take these results to heart in order to better serve the children of our largest statistical grouping - the cultural or secular Jews."

The results of Dr. Mayer's work are vitally important to the Center for Cultural Judaism, which was established largely in response to findings in the American Jewish Identity Survey (AJIS 2001), also conducted by Dr. Mayer, that nearly half of America's adult Jews regard themselves as secular or somewhat secular, and half remain completely unaffiliated and do not even belong to a community center or other Jewish organization. Another significant finding in AJIS 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 further explore. This new study of Parental Expectations of their Children's Jewish Education provides an important understanding of this population. According to the new study, there is a decreasing likelihood that children of this secular population will receive any significant amount of Jewish education. "There is an absolute need for serious new options in Jewish education. If Jewish education is to reach greater numbers of America's Jewish children, it must reflect greater sensitivity to the views of these parents who remain on the periphery of Jewish life," Ms. Baron observed.

The study was based on a nation-wide USA sample of 1,183 adults designed to represent the broadest range of parents who may have a stake in their children's Jewish education. The survey questionnaire was presented on the World Wide Web to a national panel of 85,000 households compiled by NFO (National Family Opinion Corp.) one of the world's top-three custom research firms, and the number one in North America. After six days in the field in June 2003, a total of 37,532 prospective respondents logged in and were screened to see if they qualified for the survey. In all, 1,173 respondents, or about 3 percent of the total, qualified and completed the web-based questionnaire.

The full text of the Parental Perspectives study is available here. Hard copy of the published study is available through the Center for Cultural Judaism.

In another major effort in Jewish education, the Center for Cultural Judaism administers Posen Foundation Grants for the Study of Secular Judaism within well-established university programs and departments of Jewish Studies and Humanities. In the current academic year, seven U.S. universities are grant recipients and have courses underway; four additional U.S. universities and colleges will commence programs in Fall 2005. There are also four similar programs underway or in development in Israel.

The Center for Cultural Judaism was established in 2003 in response to emerging new insights into American Jewish demography, as cited in the American Jewish Identity Survey (AJIS 2001). Salient among those insights is the emergence of a very large population of Jews - and for many their non-Jewish spouses as well - who do not find meaning in Judaism as a religion, but for whom Judaism as a culture is meaningful. The Center for Cultural Judaism is dedicated to supporting programs on behalf of this large, under-served population.

Center for Cultural Judaism
www.culturaljudaism.org
Tel: 212 564 6711

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