A SOBERING INDEPENDENCE DAY EXPERIENCE
Photo by Meadow Marie on Unsplash
Whew, I could be a new citizen of the U.S. Or, if re-tested, maybe I won’t be sent back to Brazil where I was born (to American parents abroad.) For the record, I aced Senior Civics with Mrs. Jackson, Ashland (VA) High School, Class of 1949.
So, I took the sample test published in The Washington Post: ten questions; get six right or you flunk. This is half of the new-citizen test; the other half requires demonstrating you understand English.
Applicants are given a list of 100 questions (whew again;) The Post chose ten.
A history buff who is absolutely, totally absorbed in politics today, I figured this would be a snap. Wrong.
I missed the two longest rivers in the U.S., the one “U.S.-only citizen right,” and most embarrassingly 😱 — who wrote the Declaration of Independence.
Mrs. Jackson is turning over in her grave.
I somehow passed the test but was surprised when asked to demonstrate my English competency. My response, “I am English!”
Do you think the testers want English English such as you speak, or butchered English as in the rest of us colonists?
You did better on the test than many people would. Including me.
All I know is that our new citizens are probably more enlightened than the rest of us. 🥹