ChoklitRain

IIRC, when jesus came around, a lot of the poor people switched to christianity because they wanted change. but the rich people didn't want change, so they stayed jewish. so basically, jews are a self-selected group of successful people.

rodney

^^and where are you attending college next year? wanna make sure my D doesn't apply there.....you are really in for a big surprise.....all "jews are a self-selected group of successful people"? um, no, not all of them.........some are mass murderers and homeless people just like the rest of you......

and people wonder why we don't want to send our kids to school in Idaho........

tsdad

Is this what they teach you in Boise?

Haitian

I don't know if this has already been mentioned but Tulane attracts a great deal of Jewish kids from the East.

Dbate

Choklit you are mistaken, a large number of jews did not switch over at all. It was mostly poor Romans. And the jews who are here today have little connection to the jews 2000 years ago, I mean the diaspora (did I spell that right?) really caused a breakdown in the Israel living jews, so modern jews trace their lineage from different areas.

Dbate

OMG, I know this is rascist, but why are Jews so smart? Maybe it is because they have someone looking down on them favorably

rodney

^^another ridiculous generalization/stereotype that makes it very difficult for the average kid to feel accomplished.......

Rutgers89

It is statistically correct that as a collective group, Jews are the smartest people in the world, more specifically the Ashkenazy Jews. I do not have a link to the stats, but I have read it in not one but two philosophy and psychology books.

Rutgers89

Are Jews born smart? | Opinion | Jerusalem Post

ChoklitRain

"and people wonder why we don't want to send our kids to school in Idaho........"

I live in NJ. And my private hs sends 20% of the class to Ivies every year. Perhaps my ignorance is the fault of my Wharton educated dad or Princeton educated mom?

and i'm not even jewish. i simply accept the fact that jews are the smartest and richest ethnic group in the world. because there has to be a reason for this, i proposed one.

kwu

The stereotype of brilliant Jews actually has its founding in the discrimination they faced in their attempt to gain admission to our nation's Ivy League colleges.

Since those institutions had quotas against peoples of the Jewish faith, any Jew who attended an Ivy League college was thought of as simply brilliant: after all, how could he have been admitted despite the quota if he weren't brilliant?

And thus, the stereotype spread and now it is demystified!

My tuition-free independent high school in NYC sent 22 percent of its class to the Ivy League last year (would have been much higher if so many people hadn't turned down Cornell), and 13 percent of its class to HYPSM. I love my parents, neither of whom went to college, for all the gifts and privileges I've received in life, and I do not believe in stereotypes.

kwu

In addendum: a fact is something that leaves no room for reasonable doubt. It is an indisputable truth.

It is my sincere hope that colleges will see past your 2400 PSAT score, 2370 SAT score, elite private school, and well-educated mother and father.

gadad

An analogy: A lot of Americans think that blacks are dominant in basketball because of inherent genetic traits - they supposedly jump higher, grow taller, have greater "quick-twitch" muscle response, etc. But the fact is that it's only in the U.S. that blacks dominate in basketball - black Africans aren't particularly dominant on the international scene. The most dominant basketball country in the world, per capita, is Lithuania, just as the most dominant baseball country, per capita, is the Dominican Republic. But there are no Latvian players in the NBA despite the fact that they are ethnically the same as their neighbors in Lithuania, and the DR shares an island with Haiti, which produces no baseball talent.

Jews and Asians tend to achieve at high levels academically for the same reason that African-Americans dominate the NBA and Lithuania and the DR produce an extraordinary proportion of basketball and baseball talent, respectively - their cultures value it, celebrate it, and reward it. Want your culture or ethnic group to perform academically at the same levels? Here's how:
- Make parents care about academics and share their pride in their kids' achievement.
- Set expectations for learning and keep moving the bar higher as those expectations are reached.
- Put high achieving kids on pedestals; celebrate them as heroes and hold them up to the rest of the society as role models.
- Encourage high achievers who are successful to give back to the culture and encourage the next generation.
- Show reverence to the adult teachers and facilitators who draw the best out of kids.

ElizaB

2nd Tulane. People around here call it Jew-lane. Offensive I know, but it happens.

Rutgers89

KWU, gadad,


I think it goes past the nurture..... IQ levels have nothing to do with nurture, and Ashkenezy jews have the highest IQ as a group in the world.