The Relationship Between Public and Private Schooling and Anti-Semitism

ABSTRACT

No previous research has directly examined the relationship between attending a public or private school as a child and people’s attitudes toward Jews when they become adults. This article sheds new light on this issue by using a large, nationally representative survey of over 1,500 adults in the United States to see how childhood schooling is related to adult anti-Semitism. It finds that even after controlling for a variety of background characteristics, people who attended private schools exhibit more positive attitudes toward Jews than those who attended public schools.

KEYWORDS:

• anti-Semitism
• civic values
• private schools
• school choice
• tolerance

Notes

1. It is worth noting that some Jewish organizations, including Agudath Israel and the Orthodox Union, have taken positions in support of school choice. See http://www.jlaw.com/LawPolicy/OU3.html and http://advocacy.ou.org/news/in-the-news/public-schoolings-pluralism-problem-school-choice-solution/.

2. A copy of the survey is available at https://uasdata.usc.edu/UAS-15.

3. This finding is plausibly statistical noise, though it may highlight a need for additional research.