Alabama CITIZENSHIP Test

Should Alabama high schoolers be required to pass the citizenship test to graduate high school?

Yesterday, we challenged our readers to debate this question in AL.combat. Today, we're offering several additional viewpoints, exploring the issue in more depth.

What are Senator Orr's thoughts and reasons for his bill? Do educators think this is the right approach? What about immigration advocates? What does the institute that's pushing for this legislation on a national level have to say about it?

Read through the arguments below and continue to share your thoughts with us in the comments and on social media, using the hashtag #ALcombat.

Senator Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) represents Alabama's third district and is the sponsor of SB105 which would require high school students to pass the naturalization test:

When 71 percent of Americans were unable to identify the Constitution as the supreme law of the land, 48 percent could not define the bill of rights and 62 percent could not identify the governor of their state, then we have a problem. I may forget all the biology, geometry and trigonometry that I learned in high school but don't use today. But I need to know how the government operates at all levels because it affects me every day. And I need to know the basic fundamentals of our history that make this country the great country that it is.

Trisha Powell Crain is Executive Director of Alabama School Connection, an online news site devoted to covering and thus propelling K-12 education into Alabama's everyday conversations:

A civics test sounds simple, right? Spit out some memorized facts about dead presidents and long-ago-written documents and wham, you're a good citizen, right?

Civics and memorized historical facts aren't the same. Civics is the study of the rights and duties of citizenship. Boiling this broad subject matter down to a 10-question test (of how well you've memorized those facts) does nothing but cheapen the subject of civics. 

The quick fix of requiring students to take a test will do little to fix what ails civics education and civic engagement in Alabama.

It might make our legislators feel good for a moment, but what Alabamians really need in order improve our civic and citizenship skills can't be taught in a few classes in school nor encouraged by a one-dimensional test.

Sam Stone is Executive Director of the Civics Education Initiative, Joe Foss Institute, one of the groups championing citizenship test legislation:

Are we currently teaching civics in our schools? The answer is, "yes," sort of. Although ten states have no requirement at all, most states do have some mandatory civics or government classes included in their standards. However, as the data indicates, those lessons aren't sinking in very well. That's why we at the Joe Foss Institute created the Civics Education Initiative with a goal of seeing all 50 states pass our basic legislation by September 17, 2017 - the 230th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution. Our goal is twofold: 1) to ensure every student has at least the same very, very basic understanding of our government and civic institutions that we require of new immigrants before they can become citizens. And, 2) to create a national conversation about the need to improve civic education and awareness for citizens across the country.

Helen Rivas is a member of the steering committee of the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, the founding board of Adelante and Alabama Workers Center: 

For decades I have often read and heard mistaken opinions and arguments related to immigration laws and policy. Angry polemics, politics too often leave sound policy debate in the dust. 

The exam given by Citizenship and Naturalization Services covers basic structures and processes of government, as well as the names of a few historical personages.  It is a good start for a new citizen but Alabama citizens should know more.  Let's let teachers do their job better and fund innovative civics teaching.

We see evidence of the need for civic literacy every day. Some people argue "majority rules," as justification to trample on the constitutional rights of others. A misguided few currently defend the right of individual states to ignore the Constitution when it suits them. The words of the Founding Fathers are twisted to fit multiple agendas that must have our forbearers spinning in their graves.

Dr. George Prewett, a retired educator, taught history at Mountain Brook High School for 21 years; he has a PhD in History from the University of Alabama:

Questions on the test for prospective, naturalized citizens are designed to gauge a foreigner's basic understanding of America's history, its government, and its culture.  The typical questions in no way measure depth of understanding of the way America works.  Take, for example, "name one branch or part of the government," or, "what did Susan B. Anthony do?"  If high school history and government teachers were asked to administer the test, they would find it to be an insult to their students' intelligence.  

Administering it to high school students would be as worthwhile as asking high school baseball hopefuls to name the 4 bases on the field.  The correct answer would hardly certify their readiness for the game, unless one was competing at T-ball.