The search for presuppositions of a people's thought is not new. Octavio Paz and Samuel Ramos have both attempted to describe the assumptions underlying the Mexican character. Paz described Mexicans as private, defensive, and stoic, characteristics taken to the extreme in the "pachuco." Ramos, on the other hand, described Mexicans as…

It is asserted that intelligence testing is part of a national educational ideology which is used to rationalize Chicanos' educational inequalities. This rationale suggests that inequality is the result of the group's inability to function competently within the American social and educational structures. (MH)

The assumption that Mexican emigration to the United States provides benefits to Mexico in the form of jobs for unemployed Mexicans and wage remittances has kept Mexican officials from discouraging illegal emigration. In fact, emigration drains the Mexican economy and should be a cause for Mexican government concern. (Author/MJL)

Insights into the social and cultural experiences of Hispanic people can be gleaned from both the social sciences and literature, and it is probably accurate to state that values are the most important shared dimension of a culture. There are not many value differentiations that separate the Hispanic from the Anglo. In examining the first national…