New Test Asks: What Does ‘American’ Mean?
Toby Talbot/Associated Press
New citizens taking the oath of allegiance this month on the steamship Ticonderoga at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vt.
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Published: September 28, 2007
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.
The redesign of the test, the first since it was created in 1986
as a standardized examination, follows years of criticism in which
conservatives said the test was too easy and immigrant advocates said
it was too hard.
The new questions did little to quell that
debate among many immigrant groups, who complained that the citizenship
test would become even more daunting. Conservatives seemed to be more
satisfied.
Bush administration officials said the new test was
part of their effort to move forward on the hotly disputed issue of
immigration by focusing on the assimilation of legal immigrants who
have played by the rules, leaving aside the situation of some 12
million illegal immigrants here.
Several historians said the new
questions successfully incorporated more ideas about the workings of
American democracy and better touched upon the diversity of the groups
— including women, American Indians and African-Americans — who have
influenced the country’s history.
Would-be citizens no longer
have to know who said, “Give me liberty or give me death,” or who wrote
“The Star-Spangled Banner.” But they do have to know what Susan B.
Anthony did and who the speaker of the House of Representatives is.
Alfonso
Aguilar, a senior official at Citizenship and Immigration Services, the
agency that designs and administers the test, said it was not intended
to be punitive.
“We don’t seek to fail anyone,” said Mr. Aguilar, an architect of the test.
Immigration
officials said they sought to move away from civics trivia to emphasize
basic concepts about the structure of government and American history
and geography. In contrast to the old test, which some immigrants could
pass without any study, the officials said the new one is intended to
force even highly educated applicants to do reviewing.
“This test
genuinely talks about what makes an American citizen,” said Emilio
Gonzalez, the director of Citizenship and Immigration Services,
speaking at a news conference in Washington.
The $6.5 million
redesign was shaped over six years of discussions with historians,
immigrant organizations and liberal and conservative research groups.
The questions were submitted to four months of pilot testing this year
with more than 6,000 immigrants who were applying for naturalization.
The
agency will begin to use the revised test on Oct. 1, 2008, leaving a
year for aspiring citizens to prepare and for community groups to
adjust their study classes.
The overall format has not changed.
Legal immigrants who are eligible to become citizens must pass the
civics exam as well as a test of English proficiency in reading and
writing. In a one-on-one oral examination, an immigration officer asks
the applicant 10 questions of varying degrees of difficulty selected
from the list of 100. To pass, the applicant must answer 6 of those 10
questions correctly. The questions released yesterday will remain
public along with their answers.
Immigrants are eligible to
become citizens if they have been legal permanent residents for at
least five years (or three years if they are married to a citizen) and
have “good moral character” and no criminal record.
In the pilot
runs of the revised test, Mr. Aguilar said, the pass rates improved
over the current tests, with 92 percent of participants passing on the
first try, as opposed to 84 percent now. At least 15 questions were
eliminated as a result of the pilot because they proved too difficult.
For example, a question about the minimum wage was dropped because test
takers were confused between federal and state rates, Mr. Aguilar said.
In
the new test, the pilgrims have been replaced by “colonists,” and they
are the subject of fewer questions, while slavery and the civil rights
movement are the subject of more. A question was added asking what
“major event” happened on Sept. 11, 2001.
The new test drops
questions about the 49th and 50th states, but adds one about the
political affiliation of the president. There are no questions about
the White House. Instead, one question asks where the Statue of Liberty
is.
In a statement today, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant
and Refugee Rights, one of the groups consulted in shaping the new
test, denounced it as “the final brick in the second wall.” The group
said the test included “more abstract and irrelevant questions” that
tended to stump hard-working immigrants who had little time to study.
But several historians said the test appeared to be fair.
“People who take this seriously will have a good chance of passing,” said Gary Gerstle, a professor of American history at Vanderbilt University. “Indeed, their knowledge of American history may even exceed the knowledge of millions of American-born citizens.”
John Fonte, a senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute,
called the new test “a definite improvement.” But he said it should
have included questions about the meaning of the oath of allegiance
that new citizens swear. “I would like to see an even more vigorous
emphasis on Americanization,” he said.
About 55 percent of the
applicants who participated in the pilot test were from Latin American
countries. Some Latino groups noted yesterday that no question on the
new test refers to Latinos.
Mr. Aguilar said that the test was
not intended to be a comprehensive review, but rather to include
“landmark moments of American history that apply to every single
citizen.”
Naturalizations have surged in recent years, to
702,589 last year from 537,151 in 2004, according to official figures.
In July the fees to become a citizen increased sharply, to $675 from
$405.
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