In order to evaluate the contention that an Outward Bound course grants individuals the opportunity to learn to live and work with people very different from themselves, 85 minority high school students on scholarships were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Each attended 14 to 20 three-day Outward Bound programs in the summer of 1981. The "homogeneous" group, composed of 25 students, attended Outward Bound in groups composed of 100 percent minority students. The "heterogeneous" group, composed of 60 students, attended Outward Bound in groups that were approximately 30 percent minority and 70 percent Caucasian. The differences between the two groups in dropout rates and pre- and posttest scores on the Self-Report Survey (SRS) were examined. None of the students in the homogenous groups and 15 percent of the students in the heterogeneous groups became motivational dropouts. However, using a multivariate repeated measures analysis on the subscales of the SRS, it was discovered that the students in the heterogeneous groups improved significantly more than the students in the homogeneous groups. The reasons for the differences in dropout rate and SRS scores are discussed, caveats about the research design are offered, and recommendations for further research are made. The following conclusions are offered: (1) heterogeneous groups provide a potentially rich learning environment; and (2) Outward Bound needs to develop new strategies to lower minority dropout rates in ethnically heterogeneous student groups. Data are presented in seven figures. (Author/BJV)