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In addition to demonstrating a basic handling of speaking, reading, and writing in English, federal immigration law requires prospective citizens to understand “the fundamentals of the history, and of the principles and form of government, of the United States.” 

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Do they? According to studies, over 40% of new immigrants aren’t proficient in even the most basic English, and many can’t speak it at all. 

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For years, the citizenship exam consisted of 100 questions, given to the applicants in advance, most of which were extraordinarily basic. An immigrant is only required to answer six of 10 questions to pass. The test entails queries such as: “We elect a U.S. Representative for how many years?” “Who vetoes bills?” “There were 13 original states. Name three.” “The words ‘Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness’ are in what founding document?” 

By far, the toughest questions I could find were: “The House of Representatives has how many voting members?” and “What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?” And a test taker can get them wrong and still pass easily. 

The Trump administration recently announced it would make the citizenship test marginally more difficult by adding 28 questions that skew more toward history. Newcomers, though, must now answer 12 questions out of 20. When I went to high school, 60% on a math or history test meant you failed. Apparently, it’s good enough to become an American citizen. It’s no surprise that over 88% of applicants pass the naturalization test on their first try, and a total of 97%. 

The test is a reflection of a nation that doesn’t take assimilation very seriously. As someone who believes immigration provides a net positive for our society, I’ve always been put off by the notion that we should attract the most skilled or richest people to become Americans. We need newcomers who will make the most exemplary citizens, embrace our values, culture, history, and meritocracy. 

Of course, there’s no equation to find the newcomer most likely to assimilate. There are, however, numerous clues found in culture, religion, and place of origin. Those who deny this deny reality. The thing is, these days, most pro-immigrant activists don’t have expectations of any newcomers. Indeed, they seem not to believe the law should be followed, much less celebrated. 

This is unsurprising, considering how little Americans really understand about the nation’s history. The citizenship test is probably on a sixth-grade level. Yet, one national poll by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars found that only about 36% of Americans were able to pass a multiple-choice version of the naturalization exam. The younger you are, the less likely it is that you’d pass. And I don’t mean younger as in elementary-school age. In 2018, a survey found that only about 19% of Americans under 45 could pass. Considering the direction that public and higher education have taken since then, that number has almost surely declined.  

A number of years ago, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek column arguing that Americans should be compelled to pass a citizenship test before voting. Our society, after all, is incessantly nudging young people to make consequential decisions for the rest of us, treating the vote as a sacred duty, without any corresponding expectation that they will comprehend the issues. Then again, the less the electorate knows, the better for the political class.  

The column, need it be said, didn’t go over well, as each partisan side believed I was accusing their voters of being ignoramuses. Which says something about their view of the electorate. Many on the Left claim the idea is racist, essentially admitting that they don’t think minorities could pass a simple test on civics. I disagree. And anyway, if you don’t know how many branches there are in the United States government, I don’t care what your color or creed, you have a civic duty to avoid the voting booth.

Don’t get me wrong, education is no panacea. It doesn’t magically induce anyone to embrace the values of the republic. At this point, our universities are only a hindrance to building a healthy citizenry. There are, right now, an untold number of professors at institutions of higher learning — not to mention, editorialists at leading papers like the New York Times — who could ace any citizenship test and still want to destroy the system with their hare-brained ideas. But surely mass ignorance of fundamental principles and mechanisms of American governance corrodes the ability of the electorate to debate these issues and comprehend the limits of state power. There are millions of students who don’t have the ability to reject founding principles because they don’t even understand them to begin with. 

One of the central motivations for creating public schools by 19th-century reformers was to ensure that an increasingly diverse population, with many new immigrants, could be molded into a citizenry that was capable of sustaining the republic. Education was not “more than an ability to read, write, and keep common accounts,” Horace Mann argued. It was a means of ensuring that everyone shared a set of overarching principles that allowed us to function as a free and moral people. 

In my experience, a high school senior is far more likely to walk away from public school believing that the most vital idea in American life is “sustainability,” not liberty. Some of you would be horrified reading a high school history textbook these days.

State-run public schools have often become incubators for our worst ideas. Schools stress engagement and activism — the rituals of left-wing political life. These things have little to do with republican virtues of self-restraint and virtuous behavior. The importance of property, fostering independence, or local community isn’t celebrated. Politics has taken over much of our lives. The modern public school system is a failure.

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If the United States is an idea, rather than an ethnicity based on blood and soil, then shouldn’t the idea be taught and celebrated? Our history shouldn’t be whitewashed, nor should the aspirational values of the founding be treated in relativistic terms. It is. 

Immigrants should understand this as well. It’s depressing to think that newcomers often have a better comprehension of our history and political institutions. That’s not all that matters when it comes to assimilation, but it isn’t insignificant. What’s even more depressing is that their children are barely going to learn about it at the local public school. How can we expect immigrants to embrace American values when we don’t?