changing, though, and there are indications of a backlash and renewed interest in the problem. In fact, a recent article from The New York Times shows just how much things have changed, in line with the current fascination with achievements of ethnic groups, in this case Asian Americans. The paper pointed out that, "although Asian Americans make up only 2.1 percent of the population of the United States, there are surging into the nation's best colleges like a tidal wave," by 1985, constituting 11 percent of the freshmen at Harvard, and 21 at M.I.T. (Butterfield, 1986, p. 18). The Jewish segment of the population is almost as greatly overrepresented at the higher levels of education, but this has been the trend for many generations (Silberman, 1985).
This overrepresentation is not consistent with all ethnic groups, however, and, as one researcher pointed out: Blacks and Hispanics, on the other hand, continue to be seriously underrepresented in higher education. The proportion of college graduates among blacks twenty five to thirty four years of age is about half that among whites (12.6% vs. 24.9% in 1982). It is lower still (9.7%) among Hispanics. Italians, until recently, were also considerably underrepresented (Perlman, 1988, p. 1).
In line with these statistics, one of the most controversial issues in psychological and social science research surrounding ethnic families has been the differences in ability and achievement test scores between Whites and various ethnic groups that make up modern society. "There is no question that, on the average, minority group members score lower than whites on standardized tests, though, of course, some individual members of all minority groups score far above the white average" (Farley, 1988, p. 310). Some, for instance Arthur Jensen, argue that the cause is genetic, but are unable to conclusively prove their case (Jensen, 1973). However, the larger percentage of the research holds th...