The Speaker Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma House of Representatives secured passage of a bill he said is intended to “help students become more engaged citizens.” Rep. Terry O’Donnell, R-Catoosa, said his House Bill 2030 would require Oklahoma high school students to pass the civics portion of the United States’ naturalization test in order to graduate.
I think that’s a dandy idea. And to set a good example, I think all 149 of Oklahoma’s state lawmakers should have to pass that test, too.
Students would have to achieve a score of just 60 in order to pass the test. I wonder how many state legislators would get half or more of the answers right. If I had made a score like that when I was attending Yale High School, I would have received an “F” and then would have had to explain why to my parents.
“Unfortunately, too many of our students graduate high school without basic knowledge of how our nation was founded or how our system of government works,” O’Donnell said. “This legislation would help correct that, leading to a more engaged and informed electorate in the future.”
Apparently, some of our governmental leaders could use a refresher course in U.S. history and civics.
Last November the voters of Alabama elected a mental giant, former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, to be one of their two United States senators. When asked what he planned to do upon arriving in Washington, D.C., and having to work with Democrats in Congress, Tuberville replied, “You know, our government wasn’t set up for one group to have all three branches of government. It wasn’t set up that way, our three branches: the House, the Senate, and the Executive.”
Someone pointed out to this genius that the three branches of our government are the Legislative (the one to which Tuberville was regrettably elected), the Executive (led by the President at the federal level, and by the Governor at the state level), and the Judicial (the courts).
Tuberville certainly made himself look foolish, but he’s not alone in his lack of knowledge about our nation.
We’re graduating a generation of students who don’t know when or why the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and World War II were fought, nor who the protagonists were in those conflicts; what the “Cold War” was all about; the differences between the governments of Russia, China and the United States; the concept behind the Electoral College; the differences between capitalism and socialism; what the Civil Rights movement was about; why voting is so important, and what being an American truly means.
Following are some examples from the citizenship exam:
• What do the stripes and the stars on the U.S. flag represent?
• Why did the Pilgrims come to America?
• What ship did the Pilgrims sail on?
• The President of the United States is elected for how many years?
• What is the length of terms for U.S. Representatives and for U.S. Senators?
• Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived? (Your choices: Native Americans, Latinos, Cowboys, All of the Above)
• What is the highest court in the U.S.? (Your choices: the Court of Appeals, the District Court, the Federal Court, the Supreme Court)
• What is the supreme law of the land? (The Supreme Court, The Bill of Rights, The Declaration of Independence, or The Constitution)
• How many amendments does the U.S. Constitution have? (Choices: 10, 5, 102, 27)
• George Washington is famous for many reasons. Name one. (the father of our country, our first President, general of the Continental Army, all of the above)
• What is the economic system in the United States? (Choices: Capitalism, Marxist economy, Socialist economy, Communist economy)
• Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? (James Madison, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or John Adams)
During the naturalization interview, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officer asks an applicant up to 10 questions from a list of 100 questions. The applicant must answer, correctly, 6 of the 10 questions to pass the civics test.
If Oklahoma high school students should have to take this test to graduate, candidates for the Legislature should have to pass the same exam in order to get on the ballot.