July 27, 2004

Rewriting U.S. Citizenship

I'm thoroughly swamped this week. On top of that, I'm also trying to keep up with the goin' ons in Boston like the rest of Blue America. So chew on this in the meantime:

    WASHINGTON, July 26 - In an effort to improve the quality and fairness of the citizenship test taken every year by hundreds of thousands of immigrants, the government is overhauling the naturalization exam.

    Like the current exam, the replacement will test applicants in two areas: proficiency in English and knowledge of United States history and government. A major intent is to make sure the exams are administered uniformly. The new test will also try to ensure that prospective citizens understand basic concepts of American democracy and are not merely reciting facts by rote.

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    Currently, the difficulty of the history and government test depends on which 10 questions the proctor chooses from an exam book. To pass, an applicant has to get six right. Sample questions on the current exam include: What are the colors of our flag? Who said, "Give me liberty or give me death"? and Who is the chief justice of the Supreme Court?

    A review of the citizenship exam began in September 2001. The immigration agency is working on a study guide for the history and government part. When that is done, there will be a 60-day period for public comment. Then the agency will revise the exam and test its effectiveness. It plans to begin using the new exam in 2006.

Read the whole thing.

Posted by thomas at July 27, 2004 04:35 PM | TrackBack