The Immigration Test
July 22nd 2008 16:46
A few weeks ago, I received an invitation on facebook to take an immigration test. I took the bait and tried it out. It said you had to score 80% to be able to be a citizen. I was pretty ashamed when I scored a 70%, as I consider myself fairly knowledgable about my country.
I've seen quite a few of these floating around over the years. The one I took earlier was based on old questions. There is a new test starting in October of this year. MSNBC has a sample of the new test here. This one I scored an 80% on (which I'm still not happy about).
Their grade goes like this:
0-20%: Maybe you're still thinking too much about the Old Country.
25-40%: Mmmm. Do you really want to be a citizen? This kind of performance isn't going to impress those nice immigration folks.
45-60%: Not too bad, but you really need to break out the civics books again -- word is, the INS is looking for an 80 percent score.
65-80%: Hey, you may make a good citizen yet! Look at your wrong answers and a little revision should do the trick.
85-100%: Welcome to the United States! (And, truth be told, you know more about this great land than most Americans.)
There's a problem with the scoring of these little online tests: they only take a sampling of the hardest questions on the test. The rest of the questions are not nearly as difficult. The point is, you could get all 20 of these wrong as long as you get the other 80 questions correct. The entire new test is listed here.
I'm not sure why these sample tests only include the hardest questions, except that they must want to make us feel like we expect too much of our immigrants.
Perhaps we do.
The government hopes that a test such as this allows the new citizens to know what they are pledging their allegiance to. I'm sure those of us who are really interested in politics could pass this test without a problem, but how many other Americans could? Does that mean that those who can't pass haven't internalized what the country is about?
I'm torn between my desire for everyone in this country to be able to pass this test, and my belief that noone should be forced to do anything.
One part of me says "damn, we should all have to take this test!" and the other part says "we can't force people to be interested."
Perhaps if we just supplied them with new users manuals and have give the option to learn...in my experience most immigrants are very excited about moving here and WANT to learn asmuch as they can.
I wish that everyone loved their country enough to learn about it, but ignorance is an unfortunate right. We can try our best to educate, but there is no forcing it on someone. If we don't expect our high school graduates to pass, how can we force immigrants to?
picture compliments accd.edu
I've seen quite a few of these floating around over the years. The one I took earlier was based on old questions. There is a new test starting in October of this year. MSNBC has a sample of the new test here. This one I scored an 80% on (which I'm still not happy about).
Their grade goes like this:
0-20%: Maybe you're still thinking too much about the Old Country.
25-40%: Mmmm. Do you really want to be a citizen? This kind of performance isn't going to impress those nice immigration folks.
45-60%: Not too bad, but you really need to break out the civics books again -- word is, the INS is looking for an 80 percent score.
65-80%: Hey, you may make a good citizen yet! Look at your wrong answers and a little revision should do the trick.
85-100%: Welcome to the United States! (And, truth be told, you know more about this great land than most Americans.)
I'm not sure why these sample tests only include the hardest questions, except that they must want to make us feel like we expect too much of our immigrants.
Perhaps we do.
The government hopes that a test such as this allows the new citizens to know what they are pledging their allegiance to. I'm sure those of us who are really interested in politics could pass this test without a problem, but how many other Americans could? Does that mean that those who can't pass haven't internalized what the country is about?
I'm torn between my desire for everyone in this country to be able to pass this test, and my belief that noone should be forced to do anything.
One part of me says "damn, we should all have to take this test!" and the other part says "we can't force people to be interested."
Perhaps if we just supplied them with new users manuals and have give the option to learn...in my experience most immigrants are very excited about moving here and WANT to learn asmuch as they can.
I wish that everyone loved their country enough to learn about it, but ignorance is an unfortunate right. We can try our best to educate, but there is no forcing it on someone. If we don't expect our high school graduates to pass, how can we force immigrants to?
picture compliments accd.edu
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Comment by Winston
Small Thoughts on Big Questions
Good job on making an important point.
Comment by Josie
Waxing Political
Unique Parent
I have seen immigrants come into our country and wonder why US citizens are so uninterested in their own country. I've met people who are just so grateful to be here and can tell me all the great things about out country compared to theirs that it makes me feel humbled. Then, I meet natural born citizens who can't even tell me who the VP is- it makes me so mad!