Testing Your Diversity Knowledge
The following test was developed by Fred L. Pincus, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, and author of the Test of Affirmative Action Knowledge and the co-editor of Race and Ethnic Conflict: Contending Views of Prejudice, Discrimination and Ethnoviolence.
1 It is well known that children from families in the upper income quartile (the richest 25 percent) are more likely to attend and graduate from college than children from the lowest quartile (the poorest 25 percent). According to recent data, young people from the upper income families were
A) Three times more likely to get a bachelor’s
degree than those from lower income families.
B) Almost 14 times more likely to get a bachelor’s
degree than those from lower income families.
C) More than 20 times more likely to get a
bachelor’s degree than those from lower income families.
D) None of the above.
2It is well known that Whites are much more likely to attend and graduate from college than are Blacks and Hispanics. In 1997, White young adults were
A) Twice as likely to have a bachelor’s degree
than comparable Blacks.
B) Almost three times as likely to have a
bachelor’s degree than comparable Hispanics.
C) Both of the above.
D) None of the above.
3If one compares the college graduation rates of males and females since the 1940s, female graduation rates have
A) Increased but are still lower than males.
B) Increased and have surpassed that of males.
C) Have stayed about the same.
D) Have fluctuated erratically.
4Of all students who enter two-year colleges
A) More than half transfer to a four-year
institution.
B) The percentage of students who transfer has
increased dramatically between 1980 and the
late 1990s.
C) Less than one-quarter receive any type of
degree or certificate from a two-year or a
four-year institution.
D) All of the above.
5According to data from the late 1990s
A) Men earn more bachelor’s degrees than
women in all racial groups.
B) Blacks and Hispanics make up about 20
percent of the population but earn only 12
percent of all bachelor’s degrees.
C) Although Black colleges account for 15
percent of all Black enrollment, they award only
10 percent of all bachelor’s degrees going to
Blacks.
D) The percentage of Asians with bachelor’s
degrees is slightly lower than the percentage of
Whites with bachelor’s degrees.
