On Sept. 27, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it is revamping the naturalization exam given to applicants for citizenship.
According to Professor of Political Science Deborah Schildkraut, the Civics portion of the citizenship test had been under scrutiny for several years.
"There was concern for a long time that the test was too easy," Schildkraut said. "People felt that it needed to measure more meaningful things."
The old test emphasized more trivia-based questions, such as "What is the name of the ship that brought the pilgrims to America?" The new test asks more detailed history questions, such as "The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers." It also incorporates more questions on current U.S. poltics, recent events in America, U.S. geography and conceptual questions on U.S. government structure.
But at Tufts, even the easier exam would be challenging to some students, according to a Daily poll conducted this weekend. The Daily asked 24 students in the campus center and dining halls to answer a sample of 20 questions listed on the USCIS Web site as being used on the old, easier citizenship exam. The quiz included easier questions such as "For how long is the president elected?" and harder questions like "Name the amendments that guarantee or address voting rights,"
In the real exam, applicants must answer 60 percent of the questions correctly to pass. The average score of Tufts students was about 13 out of 20, meaning that most students passed by only one question.
Prior to the survey, Schildkraut believed that most Tufts students would do well on the old test.
"The majority of the questions are, I believe, pretty straightforward," she said. "I would be surprised if [students] did poorly."
But students who took the quiz were generally surprised by how difficult it was. Sophomore Ethan Tannen said that he did not expect the questions to be so tough, and that he thinks it is unfair for the government to quiz applicants for citizenship on that material.
"[The questions] were very specific," Tannen said. "[Given] that I've grown up in the United States and I've taken American history and politics courses, and I can't even answer these questions, I think it's a little ridiculous for the government to expect immigrants to know these."
Freshman Patricia Pop applied for citizenship this summer. She was born in Romania, but moved to the United States when she was four. Pop agreed with Tannen that the questions were unfairly difficult.
"I think that it's ridiculous," Pop said. "I don't think taking this quiz determines your right to be a citizen."
For junior Diego Villalobos, the low score of Tufts students indicated that the test is already too difficult for the typical citizenship applicant.
"I think we're not holding people to the same standards," Villalobos said. "If people at elite American institutions are barely passing, then they are holding immigrants to unrealistic standards."
Villalobos is an ally of Centro Presente, a Cambridge-based organization "dedicated to the self-determination and self-sufficiency of the Latin American immigrant community of Massachusetts," according to its Web site. Centro Presente offers a variety of adult education programs for immigrants, including a "U.S. History and Civics Citizenship" course. According to Villalobos, many immigrants seeking naturalization choose to participate in such classes.
"You take a course to [pass the test]," Villalobos said. "They nail down what they need to memorize. [The immigrants] come off knowing more than any regular citizen."
Senior Daniel Becker, whose parents were both Brazilian immigrants, is a founding member of Students at Tufts Acting for Immigrant Rights (STAIR). It is an activist organization on campus that aims to educate students about immigrant rights and make a broader difference by attending rallies and writing letters in support of immigration rights. Becker agreed with Villalobos that the civics portion of the citizenship test is too difficult for many applicants.
"I've taken some of the sample questions, and they seemed pretty easy," Becker said. "But I think that there are a lot of U.S. students who could not pass this test."
In spite of that, Becker said he believes it is important for immigrants who want to become U.S. citizens to learn about the topics covered by the citizenship exam.
"I think it is important for people who are going to be future voters [and] citizens to be more educated about what their voting rights will be," Becker said. "This exam could be useful if used as an educating tool by offering citizenship applicants free classes. It's important to create an active citizenship, not one where you can just live in [a] home and work and forget that you are a citizen of this country."
Whether or not the old or new citizenship tests are too hard or too easy, Becker believes that the test is not a good indication of an applicant's desirability as a citizen.
"[The test] doesn't measure whether or not these people are good people or bad people," he said. "You should try and figure out other things about the applicants. Are people working hard? Are they spending time with their children? Are they active in the community? Those are the things that matter."
