ABIGAIL CIRELLI | staff writer

A redesigned naturalization test for new citizens was publicly introduced on Sept. 27. Seven years in the making, the revised test places more emphasis on a conceptual understanding of American government and history.

The naturalization test required of U.S. citizen applicants is composed of 10 questions which are taken from a pool of 100 possible questions, all available from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to study. Previously, the questions were based on the applicant’s knowledge of memorized facts, such as “How many stars are there on the flag?” “Who nominates judges for the Supreme Court?” and “What were the 13 original states called before they were states?”

Chair and Associate Professor of the Department of History and Political Science, Daniel Palm, Ph.D., said he used to have his students take the citizenship test as a class exercise.

“It was not terrible, but it had the character of sort of a trivia quiz,” Palm said.

He said one of the funny things was most of his students couldn’t pass the test the first time they took it.

“I think the old questions are not bad, but the new questions, in general I’m in favor of them. I think they would call for people to give a little more depth of thought to things.” Palm said.

Fifty-three of the old 100 questions have been revised or reworded, and 47 have been completely thrown out, with 47 new ones added in their place. Among the questions that were thrown out were “In what month is the president inaugurated?” and “What colors are the stripes on the flag?” Questions such as “Who was Martin Luther King Jr?” have been changed to “What did Martin Luther King Jr. do?” and from “Can the Constitution be changed?” to “What is an amendment?” Improvements in syntax have been made on some of the questions in order to make them more clear and easy for new citizens who speak English as a second language.

“I would like to have people have a very serious understanding of what the country is about. Above and beyond just the facts of our history, to be able to express the ideas that are in our founding documents, especially the Declaration of Independence, and our civil rights laws and so forth,” Palm said.

On the panel to renovate the test were education experts affiliated with Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), U.S. history and government scholars, and expert test development contractors.

The USCIS wanted “a more standardized, fair, and meaningful naturalization process,” that would “encourage citizenship applicants to learn and identify with the basic values we all share as Americans.”

Christian Education graduate student Samuel Kwapong, who is from Ghana and in the process of applying for citizenship, has concern for applicants who have prepared for straightforward, but perhaps surface level questions.

“I think some of the (new) questions will be harder. Like this one, ‘What does the constitution do?’ That is very broad, you know. Someone can go rambling on,” Kwapong said.

However, Kwapong, who is the last in his family to become a US citizen, sees an overall benefit of the new test.

“In a way, it’s bringing in people who are eager to be here, not just doing the bare minimum. If you want to be an American you have to know the history. So in a way, they are helping America, and I think that’s a good thing.”

Kwapomg believes becoming a U.S. citizen is no light matter, and that those who wish to do so, do so in earnest.

“People are risking [in order] to become American citizens too, because America is not really liked in the international [community] right now very much. And so people are really risking a lot to become American citizens. You don’t want to go out to just any country and be like ‘I’m an American citizen,’ you know, someone will shoot you down or something,” Kwapong said.

The U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services will begin administering the test on Oct. 1, 2008. If someone applies before Oct 1, but has their interview scheduled after Oct. 1, they can choose to take either the old test or the new test.

Kwapong says he would choose to take the new one so he can learn the material in order to help others who will have to take it. But he believes most people would prefer to take the old one.

Worship leadership graduate student Heejung “Gloria” You, is Korean and interested in becoming a US citizen, though none one in her family is a US citizen. She says study manuals for the current test are easily available in Korean.

“I guess I would just take the first one if it’s easier. People just want that citizenship, you know?” You said.

To You, the old questions, ones about the flag, for instance, seem important. She said she had to learn all that about the Korean flag. She thinks the new material will be harder, but necessary for people to know.

Choral conducting graduate student Hun Choi, moved to the U.S. in August of last year with his wife and two year old son. They are interested in applying for U.S. citizenship, but when Choi looked over the new questions, he asked if there would be someone to translate them into Korean during the test, saying they looked like “kind of hard questions.”

However, he said the old test contained shallow information, and the new questions would help applicants live in America and know the system.

“I think I want to choose the last one, the newest one, because I can study about what I [didn’t] know before. I think most people will choose the easy one. Their purpose is just to become a citizen, an American citizen,” Choi said.

Palm, who says his ideal test would contain several essay questions, is saddened by the low percentage of current U.S. citizens who could not pass the old or the new test.

“Unfortunately, sometimes our civics, just like our faith, ends up taking second place, and that’s too bad. But that’s what freedom means,” Palm said.

However, he hopes the new test will get people thinking and perhaps interested in what a citizen needs to know.

“I hope it perhaps embarrasses a few people, or sort of reminds them of a few things they ought to know about their own country and their own politics; and so I think that’d be a good thing,” Palm said.