- Mar 6, 2004
- 8,818
- 4,298
Thought this was an interesting read.
I was real proud of my parents when they become citizens. I could tell they were giddy inside and excited. Kinda sucks they get ver. 2.0 of the truth.
Any NTers (or their families) become citizens?
Source: http://www.slate.com/id/2286258/?from=rss
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go ahead...didnotread. how original.
edited it to remove spacing and make it look smaller.
cliffs- a bunch of questions on the citizenship exam are questionable to say the least. Some are flat out wrong.
I was real proud of my parents when they become citizens. I could tell they were giddy inside and excited. Kinda sucks they get ver. 2.0 of the truth.
Any NTers (or their families) become citizens?
Source: http://www.slate.com/id/2286258/?from=rss
[h2]
[/h2][h2][/h2]
TheProblem With Question 36
Whyare so many of the answers on the U.S. citizenship test wrong?
By Dafna Linzer, ProPublica
Last month, I became anAmerican citizen, a tremendous honor and no easy accomplishment, even for aCanadian. After living here for 12 years, I thought I knew everything. Then Ilearned how we mint Americans.
After years of steepfiling fees and paperwork (including one letter from Homeland Security claimingthat my fingerprints had "expired"), it all came down to a test. Ipassed, and, my fellow Americans, you could, too—if you don't mind providinganswers that you know are wrong.Friends told me I didn't need to study, thequestions weren't that hard. But I wanted to and so for months I lugged arounda set of government-issued flashcards, hoping to master the test. I pestered my familyand friends to quiz me. Sometimes I quizzed my sources. I learned things (thereare 27 amendments to the Constitution) and they learned things (there are 27amendments to the Constitution). But then we began noticing errors in a numberof the questions and answers.
Take Question 36. Itasks applicants to name two members of the president's Cabinet. Among thecorrect answers is "Vice President." The vice president is acabinet-level officer but he's not a Cabinet member. Cabinet members areunelected heads of executivedepartments, such as the Defense Department, or the StateDepartment.
The officialnaturalization test booklet even hints as much: "The president may appointother government officials to the cabinet but no elected official may serve onthe cabinet while in office." Note to Homeland Security: The vicepresident is elected.
Still, a wonderful pressofficer in the New York immigration office noted that the White House's own Web site liststhe vice president as a member of the Cabinet. It's still wrong, I explained. Itold her that my partner wrote an entire book about the vice president and wona Pulitzer Prize for the stories. I was pretty sure aboutthis one. A parade of constitutional scholars backed me up.
In fact, theConstitution aligns the vice president more closely with the legislative branchas president of the Senate. Not until well into the 20[sup]th[/sup] centurydid the vice president even attend Cabinet meetings.
Then there is Question12: What is the "rule of law"?
I showed it to lawyersand law professors. They were stumped.
There are fouracceptable answers: "Everyone must follow the law"; "Leadersmust obey the law"; "Government must obey the law"; "No oneis above the law."
Judge Richard Posner,the constitutional scholar who serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago,was unhappy. "These are all incorrect," he wrote me. "The ruleof law means that judges decide cases 'without respect of persons,' that is,without considering the social status, attractiveness, etc. of the parties ortheir lawyers."
So, where do thesequestions come from?
U.S. Citizenshipand Immigration Services, a department within Homeland Security,spent six years consulting scholars, educators, and historians before thecurrent test was introduced in 2008. The result: 100 questions and answersdesigned to provide an in-depth treatment of U.S. history and government.
"The goal of the naturalization test is to ensure America's newestcitizens have mastered a basic knowledge of U.S. history and have a solidfoundation to continue to expand their understanding as they embark on life asU.S. citizens," said Christopher Bentley, a spokesman for USCIS.
During the citizenshipinterview, applicants are asked a randomly selected 10 questions from the testand must answer six correctly. In addition to the questions, there is a readingand writing test for English proficiency.
My immigration lawyeraccompanied me to my interview. In the security line, I told her I was botheredby Question 16: Who makes the federal laws?
Each of the threepossible answers, it seemed, was incomplete. The official answers were:"Congress"; "Senate and House (of representatives)";"(U.S. or national) legislature." I'm not a lawyer but even Canadianswatched Schoolhouse Rock. Where, I wondered, was the president,whose signature is what makes a bill into a law?
My lawyer sighed, sheagreed. But: "If you get asked that question, just give the officialanswer," she said. I didn't get that question.
I also wasn't askedQuestion 1: What is the supreme law of the land?
The official answer:"the Constitution." A friend and legal scholar was aghast. Thatanswer, he said, is "no more than one-third correct." He's right.
Article VI, clause 2 inthe Constitution, known as the Supremacy Clause,explicitly says that three things—the Constitution, federal laws, andtreaties—together "shall be the supreme law of the land."
Question 96 asks: Whydoes the flag have 13 stripes? The official answer: "because there were 13original colonies." In fact, the flag has 13 stripes for the 13 originalstates.
Many of the testquestions, organized under topics such as "system of government,""geography," and "American history" are correct andinformative. Since I'm a reporter, one tugged at my heart.
Question 55 asks: Whatare two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy? Among thecorrect answers: "write to a newspaper."
http://http://At my interview, I was asked questions on presidential succession,the Cabinet, Senate terms, and the Supreme Court. I was asked to name a branchof government. (I went with the executive.)
I was asked Question 8:What did the Declaration of Independence do?
Heeding my lawyer'sadvice, I went with the official answer: "declared our independence."
I answered sixconsecutive questions correctly and moved on to the language section of theexam. Native English speakers are not exempt from this section and I was askedto read aloud the following sentence: "Columbus Day is in October."
I was then asked towrite a sentence in English. Remarkably, it was the same sentence:"Columbus Day is in October."
Next, I reaffirmedanswers I had given on my citizenshipapplication.
Was I a member of theCommunist Party? Was I member of a totalitarian party? Am I a terrorist?Although I was born in 1970, I was asked: Between March 23, 1933 and May 8,1945, did I work for or associate in any way with the Nazi government ofGermany? Had I worked at a concentration camp?
The officer whointerviewed me, Sandy Saint Louis, had to ask me the questions. But she didn'teven look up or wait for my responses. She checked off "No" aftereach one.
She did pay attentionwhen she asked whether I was a habitual drunkard, a polygamist, adrug-smuggler, a felon, a tax-evader.
My paperwork was inorder, my background check was complete. When the interview was over, SaintLouis pressed a large wooden seal into a red ink pad and stamped"approved" across my application. A wave of relief washed over me andmy lawyer shot me a sweet smile. Ten days later, when I returned for theswearing-in, a brief and final questionnaire asked if I had engaged inprostitution since the interview. I checked "No."
On Friday, Jan. 28,accompanied by my family, I was among 160 citizens-in-waiting who filed into a3[sup]rd[/sup]-floor auditorium in lower Manhattan to be sworn in as Americans.On our seats were an American flag, a copy of the Constitution, a bookletfeaturing the stories of prominent naturalized Americans, and a welcome letterfrom President Obama.
Reading the letter, Ibegan to cry. I had spent more than one-quarter of my life hoping to becomeAmerican, and I was suddenly overwhelmed by the honor and the significance ofthe moment. The place I have called home for 12 years was finally claiming me,as well.
I looked around the roomand saw other fortunate souls with long journeys now behind them, quietlyweeping with joy.
An immigration officialasked us all to stand, and to remain standing, when the name of our country oforigin was called out. After he read through the names of 44 countries, we wereall standing, waving our flags.
Together, we took theOath of Allegiance and were then seated as citizens of one nation.
Everyone in the room thatday had scored a perfect 100 percent on the test and, for fun, an officialdecided to test us all once more. Who wrote "The Star SpangledBanner"? he asked. Only a few called out "Francis Scott Key,"perhaps because that question is no longer on the test. It was prominently removed four years ago.
A newly sworn-in citizenled us in the Pledge of Allegiance. We sang the national anthem and thenwatched a video message from the president shown at every swearing-in ceremonyacross the country.
"It's an honor anda privilege to call you a fellow citizen of the United States of America,"Obama told us. "This is now officially your country."
There were more tears.At the end of the hour, we received certificates of naturalization and weregiven instructions on how to obtain U.S. passports.
My family and I leftsoon afterward. It was 10:30 a.m. and cold outside. We took the subway uptown.Three children got off at three different stops, headed to their schools or thelibrary. We took the youngest up to his school. He walked in clutching hisAmerican flag and announced proudly to his teachers that "Mommy isAmerican."
At a party that evening,I displayed the letter from Obama and laid out the flashcards. Over Sam Adamsbeer and mini-burgers, I spoke about the ceremony and test. The host led us allin the Pledge of Allegiance, my second of the day. Looking around the room, Irealized that a significant number of my friends are journalists, writers,academics, and lawyers. It's a nitpicky crowd and during three hours ofcelebration they noticed additional errors in the questions.
Atthe end of the night, one of the catering staff gathered up the flash cards andas she held them out to me, she revealed that next month she too will take hercitizenship test. I was thrilled. I closed my first day as an American citizenby handing them over to her. "Which ones did you say were wrongagain?" she asked. "Just give the official answer," I said,"and you'll do fine."
go ahead...didnotread. how original.
edited it to remove spacing and make it look smaller.
cliffs- a bunch of questions on the citizenship exam are questionable to say the least. Some are flat out wrong.
