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Show Joel Shapiro 5/26/82 tp 1 pg 21 ative did push their kids for academic excellence. Of course, that's a change, I guess , over the 40 years. Cne reads a list of Sterling Scholars, who's the best in the city high school, and it's hard to find a Jewish name . So , the Jews tare integrated into the modelled society, there's no question about it. Their kids a.re just regular Joes , now . Academic excellence,as a single minded pursuit, I ' m sure , has lost its Jewish appeal. ~/hich is no wonder -- I don't see that there's any wonderment in it. The second generation of parents , or third generation parents , succeeded, made their position, they 've achieved the respect in their communities. They 've achieved a. fair measure of economic independence. W'hat ca.n they say to their kids? The way to excellence is through the text book, or some other wa.y. So, the kids a.re not as hyped up, I'm sure, to pursue it. And we're ta.lking,a.gain, in broad brushes --not in individual cases. But , when I think back to my particular generation, and the number of youngsters, yea.r after year, of this tiny community, which is probably 8 or 10 times that size, and there's only one here and one there, and one here and one there. It seems that we've lost our proportion academic excellence, I would think. L Get back to ••• wnen you did go out ••• JS Oh , you asked me who I took out. I took out LDS girls, nice girls. Again, and I felt that I was quite welcomed. Never had any real problems in that that I was aware of. I never felt that somebody's father was saying "perhaps you ought not to go out with this Jewish kid , or see so much of him", until I came back from the war, WWII, and started to date, and I became a little aware then that, you know, there was family, little family squeeze, perhaps. Some of the girls I might take out more than twice. L And you became aware of that after the war? JS Oh , yes. I'm talking-- after W''IJII, yes-- I 'm talking about the late 40's. Well, because then, after all, I was at that time -you're talking about a ma.n who was 25, 26, 27, versus a. high school boy who'd be 16 or 17. So, I suppose, I posed a more serious, subtle threat at the age of 27 than I was at the age of 16. L Were courting habits much different? Did you act differently? JS Courting habits? Differently than what? Than my son would act today? Well, I suppose. I, number one -- I would probably not go |
