'You Can't Handle the Citizenship Test!'

Heard a guy the other day issue a challenge to me and a few score others. "Are you willing to take the same test given to people who come into this country with a desire to become citizens?" he asked. Then he said, ala Col. Nathan Jessup (Jack Nicholson in "A Few Good Men"), "You couldn't pass that test!"

I let his statement pass unchallenged because I knew he meant well, but it rankled me. Mostly, I suppose, because I know I can pass the test. But partly because if you are born here, and participate in the daily exercise of freedom through voluntary choices, you don't have to take "no stinkin' test" or apologize for it.

But a new piece of information has me wondering if maybe the guy was right, after all.

The Goldwater Institute decided to find out how much today's students are learning about the Constitution and civics. You know, all that important stuff that the public school lobby reassures us that our students will not learn if we don't support our schools with more money.

The results? Not pretty.

A major justification for supporting a system of public schools has long been the promotion of a general civic knowledge necessary for a well informed citizenry. This study demonstrates that schools in Arizona are failing in this core mission.

To determine students’ level of basic civic knowledge, we surveyed Arizona high school students with questions drawn from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) item bank, which consists of 100 questions given to candidates for United States citizenship. The longstanding practice has been for candidates to take a test on 10 of these items. A minimum of six correct answers is required to pass. The service recently reported a first-try passing rate of 92.4 percent.

That's 92.4 percent of foreigners who study for the test, then take it.

The Goldwater Institute survey, conducted by a private survey firm, gave each student 10 items from the USCIS item bank. We grouped results according to the type of school students attend—public, charter, or private. Questions included (1) Who was the first president of the United States? (2) Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? and (3) What ocean is located on the East Coast of the United States?

All three groups of Arizona high school students scored alarmingly low on the test. Only 3.5 percent of Arizona high school students attending public schools passed the citizenship test. The passing rate for charter school students was about twice as high as for public school students. Private school students passed at a rate almost four times higher than public school students.

So even private school students only achieved about a 14 percent pass rate. And that was four times better than public school students.

We are doomed. However, I did like the Institute's proposal:

This study details the results of the civic knowledge survey and sounds an alarm. Our recommendation is to require public school students to pass the same test required for applicants for citizenship as a condition for receiving a diploma. Further, we recommend that Arizona’s public universities require proof of passing such an exam as a condition of admission.

Inevitably someone will fuss that this will be just another area where teachers will "teach the test." And I say, "What's wrong with that? At least they'll know the answers and maybe, just maybe, they'll think about what they mean."