The Big Picture: Immigration, Diversity and Social Capital

This month's SCI staff meeting featured a good discussion on the proposed changes to the citizenship test, which all immigrants must pass before they become full citizens of the United States. The Christian Science Monitor reports that the new test

"will continue to be an oral test, conducted in English, and will have 10 questions. Six correct answers will earn a passing grade. But the content, which is tightly under wraps, is expected to shun simple historical facts about America that can be recounted in a few words for more explanation about the principles of American democracy, such as freedom."

Questions have since been posted to the official Citizenship and Immigration Services website, and include:

What type of economic system does the U.S. have?
How many U.S. Senators does each state have?
What is the tallest mountain in the United States?

One of the most obvious issues raised in our staff discussion was that most American-born citizens probably would not be able to pass such a test, in either the original or revised form.

Over at the web magazine Salon.com, law professor Steven Lubet points out that only certain answers are accepted for each question, even those that may seem more open-ended than others:

"Let's start with the second question, which gets the whole test off on the wrong foot constitutionally. Pilot question No. 2 asks, 'What is the supreme law of the land?' The sole allowable answer is 'The Constitution.' That is only partially right, however, because it excludes at least two other correct answers. Anyone who has read Article VI would know that the supreme law of the land includes the 'Constitution, and the laws of the United States ... and all treaties made ... under the authority of the United States.'"

Or, the supreme law could be interpreted in terms of religion or spirituality, as was mentioned in our staff discussion.

Also on the agenda was Robert Putnam's new research on diversity and social capital--but we were engaged with the new citizenship test discussion that we didn't have time!

How do you think you would do on the citizenship test, if you had to take it?