Todayโs entry:ย Brian, as the saying goes, those who donโt know their history are doomed to repeat it. My question is regarding the citizenship test. I understand thereโs a new version as of December but what types of questions are on it?
Bottom Line:ย As of December 1st, there is a revamped citizenship test process and scoring system. Itโs the first update since 2008. The biggest change is that those seeking citizenship must now answer at least 12 of 20 questions in order to pass. In the last version, ten correct answers were needed to pass. As for the questions themselves, theyโre never static. First, there had beenย 100 possible questions, thatโs been increased to 128. Only 20 actually are presented during an oral Citizenship test. Forย example,ย some of the static questions include:
- Name two national holidays.
- Why does the flag have 50 stars?
- What is the supreme law of the land?
Second, some of the questions are dynamic, changing over time, for example,ย Who is one of your stateโs U.S. senators now? orย Who is the President of the United States now?
As you can probably tell, these questions arenโt gotchas and frankly, most are little more than common knowledge to those who are well informed. Thatโs why itโs especially troubling that only 39% of Americans would pass the Citizenship test according to a study by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. As unfortunate as that may be, consider that in the same study which determined only 39% of Americans would pass the Citizenship test, 40% said history was their favorite subject in school. What does that tell you? Clearly, thereโs an issue with the education establishment.
I know it seems easy to simply blame the education system for any number of issues in our society, however, in many respects, itโs deserved. How effective is our education system if only 39% of adults could pass a citizenship test that only requires you to answer 60% of the questions correctly? Thatโs an abject failure from my perspective. If anyone feels differently and wants to defend it to me, Iโd be curious to hear what your argument would be. Once again, Iโm reminded how grateful I am for Florida mandating civics education as part of the curriculum going forward. Thereโs a lot of work to do. But what about the rest of the country? This should be a priority everywhere.
Submit your questions using one of these methods.
Email:ย brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Twitter:ย @brianmuddradio
Facebook:ย Brian Mudd https://www.facebook.com/brian.mudd1
Photo by: Getty Images