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The older teens

One of the significant things about Jewish culture in the older teen years is that it is largely college-oriented.

Sixty-five per cent of the Jewish teen-agers of college age attend institutions of higher learning.

This is substantially higher than the figures for the American population at large -- 45.6 per cent for males and 29.2 per cent for females.

This may help explain a phenomenon described by a small-town Jewish boy.

In their first two years in high school, Jewish boys in this town make strenuous exertions to win positions on the school teams.

However, in their junior and senior years, they generally forego their athletic pursuits, presumably in the interest of better academic achievement.

It is significant, too, that the older teen-agers I interviewed believed, unlike the younger ones, that Jewish students tend to do better academically than their gentile counterparts.