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<p>If I recall correctly, the Chua daughters go by the father’s last name of Rubenfeld. So to the “outward eye,” they would be perceived as Jewish. Whether or not that is how they see themselves, I can’t say.</p>
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<p>It would seem to me that if I were Asian and I were afraid of being lumped in with the stereotype that Asians are exclusively interested in math / science, tennis and the violin, a sure way around that would be to show interests other than math / science, tennis and the violin.</p>
<p>Any sense how many Jewish college kids would self-report to Hillel? Is it possible 1600+ would? Or that the estimate comes from another avenue?</p>
<p>Remember, part of the talk is always that it’s Asian mothers pushing their kids. So, maybe it’s the moms who need to get wise and switch to viola or drums. Or get them to audition for plays.</p>
<p>Hunt, Interesting to hear your observations about what instruments Asians tend to play. S1 played the clarinet and S2 played the violin and are about as WASP as they come (but with a last name that “could” also be Jewish so go figure).</p>
<p>I would think Hillel’s estimation of the # of Jewish kids (as based on self-reporting) would be closer to the truth than trying to suss out based on last names.</p>
<p>Apropos of nothing, my temple once did an exchange program whereby we were assigned other couples who had children the same age to come over for dinner. Two families showed up on our doorstep. Both had white fathers and Asian mothers. In one family, it was the father who was Jewish and the wife wasn’t, but was fine raising the kids Jewish. In the other family, it was actually the mother who was Jewish – she was of Asian descent but had been adopted by a Jewish family in her youth and was raised Jewish.</p>
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<p>It is my impression that many in the Jewish community care a lot about how many Jews there are at Harvard and Yale (and other colleges). Hence the Hillel report, the Jewish life services offered on these campuses, and the threads here on CC that relate specifically to college life for Jewish students. </p>
<p>I think most religious people do care about how many others in their community share their beliefs.</p>
<p>I think what he means is that from an admissions standpoint, no one at Harvard is worrying about “do we have too many or too few Jews.” Not that the Jewish communities themselves don’t care or want to make sure that they offer sufficient socializing and / or religious support.</p>
<p>It is of note, however, that a few years ago, Vanderbilt was very vocal about wanting to attract more Jewish students, esp from the NE, as a way of building a national reputation. I don’t have the specific quotes on hand, but the gist of it was that having a significant Jewish NE pop would “build cred” with their target market. it would be interesting to see what the reaction would be if another good college explicitly came and said they wanted more Asians on campus.</p>
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Indeed, part of my point was that while Asian kids tend to focus on those instruments, they aren’t the only ones who play them, making it even that much tougher to compete for seats.</p>
<p>If we’re talking about STEM seats, it might also be that the non-Asian kids who are looking at those seats may be some of the most high-stats non-Asians as well.</p>
<p>Well, both my non Asian kids are engineers as well!</p>
<p>^Right, if there were only Asians good enough to do STEM, MIT and Caltech would have much higher numbers and that is not the case. I am now troubled that Yale has even fewer seats in engineering!</p>
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Mine too. We are such trend-buckers. Ahh, we throw off those stereotypes, don’t we.</p>
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Not only are Jews not as smart as they used to be, (fewer NMS), they can’t play music as well either! Oh noes! </p>
<p>Judging by last names of course.</p>
<p>When I was at Harvard back in the dark ages, I did sometimes feel surrounded by Jews - I think because my house had so many kids in the orchestra. But there was no way it was 3/4 of the total population of whites at Harvard. I only knew they were Jewish at all because they often talking about cantors and music for holidays.</p>
<p>We have a clarinet player and a violin player in our house too.</p>
<p>“Any sense how many Jewish college kids would self-report to Hillel? Is it possible 1600+ would?”</p>
<p>I doubt it. There are plenty of self-identified Jews who never went into the Hillel. My sister surely never did when she was at Brown, but she is Jewish (albeit atheist). It’s possible that Hillel’s numbers are close to accurate, but they have to be estimates, because we don’t have to sign up in any sense.</p>
<p>I did go to the Harvard Hillel now and then, but I wasn’t a member, so the only way they’d know who I was would be from my ID card swipe – which wouldn’t tell them that I was Jewish, just that I was having a meal there in the company of an observant friend. My last name is very unusual and might not be identified as a Jewish name, though it is. As far as I know, all Stotlands and Statlands in the world are descended from Jews from the same shtetl in what is now Ukraine.</p>
<p>I was wondering if Jewish students would be more likely to self-report. Thinking: if it’s not self-reporting, where does it come from? Same ques as others. Of course, it’s possible Hillel sends out some welcome and questionnaire- and that a percentage of kids feel comfortable responding.</p>
<p>Ya know, all those Asian violinists in the orchestra does counter the notion that it’s all about parental pushing.</p>
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It’s because their moms finally let them go outside and play baseball with the other kids instead of practising the violin:</p>
<p>[2011-12</a> Baseball Roster - Harvard](<a href=“http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/roster]2011-12”>http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/roster)</p>
<p>That’s cool,mathmom, that you had a clarinet player and a violin player too. S2 never took outside violin lessons but he did do a little one week orchestra camp one year. One fond memory was picking he and 2 of his pals up from camp and taking them to their baseball practice. 3 little boys with violin cases in one hand and baseball bags in the other!</p>
<p>? Most of the maybe-Jewish names could be Polish or German Catholics. Did you see the 3 brothers? Someone going to say sibling legacy? Or suspect the last name makes them some sort of Urm?</p>
<p>ps, fwiw, I sometimes think music must be what tipped D2 into her reach. But, in addn to violin and viola (and all the music engagement outside lessons), she somehow picked up sax and electric bass- enough to fake it, at least, in a school group or two.</p>
<p>It is awfull hard to tell if a name is Jewish or not, but Kaplan probably is.</p>
<p>Is Koufax a Jewish-sounding name?</p>
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Depends on what it was at Ellis Island 
Actually, his real last name was Braun</p>
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Kaplan attended Friends Academy. He’s obviously Quaker. ;)</p>