The New York Times:
Patrick Henry and Francis Scott Key are out, but Susan B. Anthony and Nancy Pelosi are in. The White House was cut, but New York and Sept. 11 made the list.
Federal immigration authorities yesterday unveiled 100 new questions immigrants will have to study to pass a civics test to become naturalized American citizens.
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The article states that one of the conditions of citizenship is "good moral character". How, exactly, is this operationalized?
I bet half of the American people will fail the test.
Your expectations are a little high, methinks. My grandma always said average ain't that bright.
probably not, but then, i wouldn' want to. when are you dickhead conservatives going to get off your asses and buy tickets for us libs to get the hell out of here?
9th grade civics class ... I couldn't possibly fail this test any more than I could forget that we came to bury Caesar, not to praise him ...10th grade English. Of course, I went to school long before anybody ever thought of No Child Left Behind.
I'm going to guess that probability of passing this test is inversely proportionate to the probability someone considers immigration a serious threat.
I think that US citizenship has become little
more than a high-dollar racket, these guys are
on a social engineering tear that'll likely
never end...so, get ready for Wal-Mart and
that next housing tract to get built next door!
Sky's the limit, se habla espanol! LOLOL
A great way to get Bush and Cheney's citizenship revoked.
At least Chimpy's anyway. Deferment Dick might know how to study for it.
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Over 12,000,000 Illegals..
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My boss can't even read.
Bush?
I got everyone right but that's because I care to know. Knowledge and facts don't scare me.
Well that and I watch "The Daily Show"
Realizing that a language barrier might contribute to failing or passing the test, I think a good way to judge the appropriateness of the test is to give it to President George W. Bush. If he can pass it, that would prove that others for whom English is a second language can pass it, as well.
But can we deport him if he fails?
please...
I read all 100 questions. I can easily say that I learned 50% of the answers in the Government play I acted in when I was in the 4th grade (I can still sing the songs). The others, I learned in High School.... And lots of this was covered in my mandatory Constitution test for high-school graduation. I can say with confidence that any American struggling with these questions is seriously lacking in basic education.
Like the 50% U.S. citizens it is estimated would not pass the test
I took the 10 question sample from the NY Times and got 10 out of 10 correct without studying.
Good for you. I got nine out of ten but I didn't think it was that easy. I missed the one about the number of amendments. Answer was somewhere in my head but I couldn't find it.
The question about who can vote was interesting. Actually the Constitution gives no one the right to vote; it only lists reason for which voting cannot be denied.
When I have time I'm going to take a go at the full version.
Without studying I missed the number of ammendments, the number of respresentatives, and the picked the wrong patriot as a writer for the Federalist papers. So, I barely passed (I got 3 wrong, 4 was the limit). That said, I had a childhood of US history and government classes pounded into my brain, my mother was a history teacher and I like history. While this test obviously proves I am bad with numbers, I would guess I probably did better than the average US citizen on the street. I think it would be daunting, though not impassably difficult, for a someone who hadn't been studying US civics and history since childhood. And that they would need a fairly decent grip on these concepts to pass. I think the test strikes a good balance.
How is this test a problem? It's only 100 questions, and anyone in the world can get a copy of both the questions and the answers, and take all the time they need to study them. From the sample, it doesn't seem to be slanted towards any particular political agenda, just towards understanding a tiny bit about our history and governmental structure.
Any US citizen who thinks this is too much work, and that requiring someone to learn the answers to 100 questions before becoming a citizen is wrong, must think that US citizenship is nearly worthless. How shameful to treat citizenship with such contempt!
uh, then why do we hand it out for free to anyone who is accidentally plopped out of mom's womb here? and let them keep it no matter what horrible, despicable and treasonous crimes they commit?
i suggest that we start behaving like a democratic meritocracy rather than a geographic aristocracy. even if you are born here, you gotta work (including raising family, caring for elders and volunteering), vote, educate yourself and keep out of trouble to get the "benefit of the doubt." if you fail, then you gotta re-qualify every year for citizenship, just like a driver's license. behave badly enough, you're outta here...
i'm so sick of people crowing about how superior they are because of nothing more than being born, and how we need to lock everyone else out. it's just bullshit. being american is a privilege, not a right...
I just took the sample ten question test. I was shocked to see how complex some of the questions were. THe FEderalist papers ?? who gives a shit. That was a bad question.
Or (Woodrow) Wilson being president during WWI. How does that bit of info affect understanding the Constitution? I hope, once Cheney/Bush are out, that understanding what the Constitution means becomes the focus of the test.
And speaking of Cheney/Bush, some parts of the test are hypothetical these day, for example, the question on checks and balances.
Make that these DAYS.
Woodrow Wilson was president when we got the Federal Reserve and the Income Tax.
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was a leading intellectual of the Progressive Era, a Democrat and an unabashed racist.
The fact you don't give a shit about American history says a lot about you, and nothing about the value of American history.
A major reason we're in the mess we're in now is that our electorate, and our leaders, have not learned from our past mistakes. So we re-elect a president with a Jacksonian contempt for the rule of law. Who we've blindly and jingoisticly followed into war, like we've also done before.
Well sadly I missed the number 27 (ammendments), but not by much. My thought is that bush could not get 10 of these correct let alone 100. I also think they are hard to follow as test questions for a non reader/ESL person/dyslexic. I don't think the members of congress with one or two exceptions, know the constitution either. I think they are ignorant of it,as most of us are. And becareful what you might ask for...it won't be long when we all have to take a test to vote. The paranoia in the present government is to the level of hysteria.
Read Coles' and Lobel's "Less Safe, Less Free". Whew.
There would not be a US Constitution w/o the Federalist Papers having convinced the electorate that they were a vast improvement over the Articles of Confederation. Maybe you should Google 'em at least?
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First Posted: 09-27-07 11:17 PM | Updated: 03-28-08 02:45 AM