Their kids will know a great deal more than they do. Most likely, these same parents won't be able to assist their kids with the new math or their computer assignments either. It may be frustrating for the moment but in the long run it usually fills mothers and fathers with pride when junior surpasses them. They know that their children will have to live in another world and they will need to know more and different things than their parents in order to be successful. Somehow, the same doesn't carry through for Judaic studies.
Parents appear threatened when kids know more than they.
As this generation of kids grows up, they will be increasingly assimilated into the culture and in order to be successful as Jews, they will need to know more. On a practical level, the proof is in the pudding. What may be different about many of these alumni is that they look at Judaism as a pro-active experience. Most don't view themselves as Jews in terms of what they are not relative to the Christian majority but they see themselves based upon what they are relative to three thousand years of Jewish history and culture. Indeed they live in the real world, but they see it through a Jewish lens.