The primary objective of the court-mandated busing plan in Jefferson County (Kentucky) is to promote racially integrated schools and classrooms. The numerous protests since 1975 in Louisville over court-mandated busing are evidence of a low level of intercultural understanding and tolerance. This paper seeks to probe a source of the misunderstanding and intolerance by examining the way white students and minority students who have been brought together through court-ordered busing perceive racial tension and harmony. A sample of 464 white and minority busing-integrated middle and high school students were interviewed. The analysis of their responses revealed that white students perceive somewhat more tension in their integrated classrooms than do minority students, yet minority students are willing to accept less racial harmony than are the white students. A suggestion advanced is that more research be conducted into the attitudinal dispositions of white and minority students in integrated schools so as to more fully understand the sources of racial tension. (Author)