TESTING, TESTING 12/3/06

On Thursday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Department released the 144 sample civics questions of the new standardized test for citizenship. [There will be two other parts-- reading items, and writing items.] Applicants must correctly answer six out of ten questions in the civics section. Ten cities in four states, chosen for distribution of legal immigrants, will pilot the new test beginning in 2007. The revised test has been at least five years in the making and included input from various experts.

Currently, states use their own designed tests. The tests are not standardized. The twin aims of the new test is to implement the same test nationally and to provide a test which encourages the understanding of democratic concepts rather than rote memorization. On both levels, the sample test released on Thursday does admirably well.

The pilot is not without its' detractors. Fred Tsao of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights objects. He characterized some questions as being "off the wall." He also thought that the fee for applying for citizenship [currently $400.00 USB] is too high and he is opposed to raising the fee. [Fred Tsao's organization also puts out a pamphlet detailing how "undocumented students" can get financial aid to attend state colleges in Illinois. Currently, the site has some ftp-related problems and some of the links are broken. Typing them into the browser may get you to other parts of the website or it may not.]

Who is Fred Tsao? Well, I am not really sure. He used to work for the ACLU maybe. He certainly is an outspoken guy who is currently living in soundbytes which delineate his aversion to illegal immigrants having fewer 'rights' than the rest of us, to illegal immigrants having to take responsibility for the consequences of getting caught for crossing the border illegally, to test reform which might require a civics engineer from India to know what the current minimum wage in this country is. To Fred Tsao, the code word for illegal is "undocumented." The governor of Illinois is a good guy in his camp cuz said governor wants undocumented immigrants to attend state colleges there at the state's expense. The Illinois governor may also be planning a run for the 2008 presidency. Groan.

Fred Tsao does not like the pilot test. That is abundantly clear. I don't cotton well to people of any nationality crossing our borders illegally and then whining because they are making eleven bucks an hour in a restaurant in New York City and cannot get in on their employer's sponsered healthcare plan for lack of a valid social security number. Perhaps joining the parade of the uncounteds in Massachusetts or Illinois would prove more appealing. Or military service as a path to citizenship in order to avoid taking the test. At any rate, my dad [an American son of two legal immigrants] told me "Anything worth having is worth working for." Fred, are you listening?

radical sapphoq

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/16148147.htm

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/testing-times-for-those-seeking-us-citizenship/
2006/12/01/1164777791826.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/
chi-0612010087dec01,1,5333633.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-12-01-citizenship_x.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-12-01-citizenship-chart_x.htm

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=339442&sid=WOR

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4371296.html

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/
menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/
?vgnextoid=dcf5e1df53b2f010VgnVCM1000000ecd190aRCRD

http://www.icirr.org/

http://docket.medill.northwestern.edu/archives/003275.php

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0705/p01s03-usmi.html