Testing Our Citizenship Qualifications

I was reading in the paper this morning that the Citizenship Exam that all new immigrants are required to pass is becoming a little more subjective and some aren't too happy about it. When I was a freshman in high school I remember taking Civics which culminated with an end-of-the-year exam that required me to prove my knowledge of the basics of our government. It encompassed everything from knowing the various branches of the government, the terms of office for most major government positions and a whole gamut of questions that ensure that you knew about your country and how it works. From my understanding, the Citizenship Exam is more or less the same thing but there have been some changes coming down that have some people concerned.

On the surface the changes seem mundane seeing as how they are looking to get the same result but get it by wording the questions differently. For example, an older question was "How many voting members does the House of Representatives have?" A new question has supplanted it and the question now reads, "Why do some states have more representatives?" Now they are on similar things but with slightly different wording and purpose. The answer to the first is 435 and the answer to the second is due to population sizes in particular states. Now the older question simply required you to memorize the fact that there are 435 members in the House while the second asks you to justify it. Going are the questions of basics like "How many stars are on the U.S. flag?" or "What is the Constitution?" I think that the newer questions are fairer but still, as a born citizen of this country I have been exposed to it for a long time.

I think that it's unfair however to expect that new immigrants to this country should be required to critically analyze these points when a large number of other natural born Americans would have trouble answering these questions as well. I don't doubt that there is necessity in new citizens knowing this information but what we're taught in schools (or at least what we were taught in schools) was what we needed to memorize in order to pass the test. Taking those concepts beyond that one Civics exam was the farthest from many people's minds. Sure some people were then inspired to study government and politics in college but for the most part, after that exam was over, most of us chose to forget what we were taught. I would hope that most people born here would know how many stars are on the American flag or how many stripes are on the flag.

Immigrants should certainly have to demonstrate a certain knowledge of the functions of government if they are going to be citizens so that they'll know and understand what they can and can't legally do but still, we shouldn't ask them to do any more than what students in high school are expected to do. Part of that is due to the nuances of the English language that can make it difficult to understand what exactly is being asked. Now having the context on the question of the representative that I had asked above given that the original question was on the House of Representatives, you could ascertain that the question was referring to the House of Representatives. But the revised question is a bit vague when it asks for why there are more representatives in some states. Technically, isn't a senator also a representative of you? And each state has two senators; so then couldn't you argue that all states are equal?

People could counter that the term 'representative' should clearly indicate that the exam is looking to find out knowledge on the House but I say that it isn't that clear. There are proposed questions that want a discussion on the Ammendments of the Constitution and what they all mean. That's perfectly fair but if I walk out on the street and ask someone about the Ammendments, chances are that most people would only know three right off the bat. The Freedom of Speech, the Right to Bear Arms, and the Right to Remain Silent by pleading the Fifth. And honestly that has nothing to do with love of country than it does in the ability to bad mouth someone while carrying assault rifles and then keeping mum when you're arrested.

Ask the average person out there busy with their normal lives why there are thirteen stripes on the American Flag and I'll be surprised if many of them know that it is the symbolic representation of the original 13 Colonies that formed the United States. This is all knowledge that is important but secondary to a citizen-to-be to know. Knowing at a high level how the government operates and what are the basic tenets of the government is what's important. If the rest of us out here can get by with a general knowledge then shouldn't the immigrants taking the exam be afforded the same opportunity?