How in the *^#&% heck did we end up with the clowns we have running the show? Perhaps this will shed some light on the subject. This group ran a bit of an experiment with the state of civics education in the high schools of Arizona (I'll not go into how I feel about their esteemed senator here). The Goldwater Institute selected 10 questions from the bank of 100 that are used by the federal government for testing prospective new citizens, and tested high school students from public, charter, and private schools (they did not test home schooled kids)to see how well we are teaching our own. The results were shocking even to me. I expected something below a 50% pass rate, but not under 10%! The public school passing rate was 3.5%! the charter schools had about 7% passing and 14% for private schools! In all fairness this is Arizona so I am sure they have quite a few ESL students who have not spent their whole lives here and might not have had the opportunity for exposure to Americana that natural born citizens have, but even that private school rate is shocking and they can't claim a large illegal population as an excuse. You might find it interesting that prospective citizens pass at a rate of 92.4% on their first attempt! Tells me that for the overwhelmingly best part, legal immigrants (such as both my own in-laws, bless their hearts) value this country and its freedoms far far more than those born and raised here (at least for the past 50 years or so).

I have found places that state passing as being 6 correct of 10 (this is the standard used in this experiment) and I have found places stating 8 of 10 would be passing for prospective citizens. Not sure which is correct, and I have often heard this test was really hard and most Americans probably wouldn't pass. This, naturally piqued my curiosity - could I pass it without studying? Am I teaching my own kids enough to pass? So a little research was conducted and I found the question pool from which citizenship tests are produced.
Here they are:

1.Q: What are the colors of our flag?

2.Q: How many stars are there in our flag?

3.Q: What color are the stars on our flag?

4.Q: What do the stars on the flag signify?

5.Q: How many stripes are there on the flag?

6.Q: What color are the stripes on the flag?

7.Q: What do the stripes on the flag signify?

8.Q: How many states are there in the U.S.?

9.Q: What is the 4th of July?

10.Q: What is the date of Independence Day?

11.Q: From what country did the U.S. win independence?

12.Q: What country did we fight during the Revolutionary War?

13.Q: Who was the first President of the United States?

14.Q: Who is the president of the United States today?

15.Q: Who is the vice president of the United States today?

16.Q: Who elects the president of the United States? A: The electoral college

17.Q: Who becomes the president of the U.S. if the president should die?

18.Q: For how long do we elect the president?

19.Q: What is the Constitution? A: The supreme law of the land

20.Q: Can the Constitution be changed?

21.Q: What do we call a change to the Constitution? A: Amendment

22.Q: How many changes or amendments are there to the Constitution? A:27

23.Q: How many branches are there in the U.S. government?

24.Q: What are the three branches of the U.S. government?

25.Q: What is the legislative branch of our government?

26.Q: Who makes the laws in the United States?

27.Q: What are the two houses of Congress?

28.Q: What are the duties of Congress? A: To make laws, controls the purse strings, declares war, etc

29.Q: Who elects Congress?

30.Q: How many senators are there in the U.S. Congress?

31.Q: Name the two U.S. senators from your state.

32.Q: For how long do we elect each senator?

33.Q: How many voting representatives are there in the House of Representatives?A:435

34.Q: For how long do we elect the representatives (congressmen)?

35.Q: What is the executive branch of the U.S. government?
A: The president, cabinet, and the departments under the cabinet members

36.Q: What is the judicial branch of the U.S. government? A: The Federal Courts, top down Supreme Court, Circuit Courts of Appeals, District Courts, Magistrate Courts, Bankruptcy courts

37. Q: What are the duties of the Supreme Court; A: To interpret laws, determine constitutionality

38. Q: What is the supreme law of the United States? A: The Constitution

39. Q: What is the Bill of Rights?

40. Q: What is the capital of your state?

41. Q: Who is the current Governor of your state?

42. Q: If both the president and the vice president die, who becomes president?

43. Q: Who is the current chief of justice of the Supreme Court? A: John Roberts

44. Q: Name the thirteen original states. A: Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Rhode Island, and Maryland

45. Q: Who said "give me liberty or give me death"? A: Patrick Henry

46. Q: Which countries were our enemies during WWII? A: Germany, Italy, and Japan

47. Q: What were the 49th and 50th states admitted to the U.S.?

48. Q: How many terms can a president serve?

49. Q: Who was Martin Luther King, Jr.?

50. Q: Who is the head of your local government?

51. Q: According to the Constitution, a person must meet certain requirements in order to be eligible to become president. Name one of these requirements. A: Must be a native born citizen of the United States. Must be at least 35 years old by the time he/she will serve. Must have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.

52. Q: Why are there 100 senators in the Senate?

53. Q: Who nominates the Supreme Court justices?

54. Q: How many Supreme Court justices are there? A: Nine

55. Q: Why did the Pilgrims come to America?

56. Q: What is the head executive of a state government called?

57. Q: What is the head executive of a city government called?

58. Q: What holiday was started by the American Colonists?

59. Q: Who was the main writer of the Declaration of Independence?

60. Q: When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?

61. Q: What is the basic belief of the Declaration of Independence? A: That all men are created equal

62. Q: What is the national anthem of the United States?

63. Q: Who wrote the Star-Spangled Banner? A. Francis Scott Key(he wrote the poem, there is some confusion as to the composing of the melody but it was not Key)

64. Q: Where does the freedom of speech come from?

65. Q: What is the minimum voting age in the United States?

66. Q: Who signs bills into law?

67. Q: What is the highest court in the United States?

68. Q: Who was the president during the Civil War?

69. Q: What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?

70. Q: What special group advises the president? A: The cabinet

71. Q: Which president is called the "Father of our Country"?

72. Q: What INS form is used to apply to become a naturalized citizen? A:Form N-400

73. Q: Who helped the Pilgrims in America?

74. Q: The first Pilgrims sailed to America in what ship?

75. Q: What were the 13 original states of the United States called?

76. Q: Name three rights or freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

77. Q: Who has the power to declare war? A: The Congress (though we know presidents have been doing an end run on this one for decades)

78. Q: Name an amendment which guarantees or addresses voting rights. A: The 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th Amendments

79. Q: Which president freed the slaves?

80. Q: In what year was the Constitution written? A: 1787

81. Q: What are the first 10 amendments to the Constitution? A: They are just looking for The Bill of Rights, not an actual list of what these guarantee
82. Q: Name one purpose of the United Nations. (to swindle and minimise the US?)

83. Q: Where does Congress meet?

84. Q: Whose rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights?

85. Q: What is the introduction to the Constitution called?

86. Q: Name one benefit of being a citizen of the United States.

87. Q: What is the most important right granted to U.S. citizens? A: The right to vote. *! I disagree and will address this farther down!

88. Q: What is the United States Capitol?

89. Q: What is the White House?

90. Q: Where is the White House located?

91. Q: What is the name of the president's official home?

92. Q: Name one right guaranteed by the first amendment.

93. Q: Who is the commander in chief of the United States?

94. Q: Who was the first commander in chief of the U.S. Military?

95. Q: In what month do we vote for the president?

96. Q: In what month is the new president inaugurated?

97. Q: How many times may a congressman be re-elected?

98. Q: How many times may a senator be re-elected?

99. Q: What are the two major political parties in the United States?

100. Q: How many states are there in the United States?


Seriously?! (and I will not comment on the grammar in these questions, ending sentences in prepositions?!)
I got all of these correct except which INS form a prospective citizen must fill out to apply for citizenship, in fact - like most of you I am sure- I could write lengthy essays- full of wit and sarcasm- on many of these. I assume you all find your scores to be pretty much the same. My 12 year old son missed a few more than I (of the full 100) - but he still slammed the test and within a year or so he'll know every one I got right as well (no need to know the INS form number). Give the kid a break, we just had an election and he has a lot of new names to fasten to positions - new governor, new senator, etc. He knows the big ones.

Now I, and Daniel Webster, have a strong disagreement with the answer for question number 87 and I hope that the answer given here is not the only answer the government accepts. First of all, I think this is a subjective question. Some folks may feel freedom of religion is the most important. I, and my friend Dan, feel that by far the most important right we as Americans share is the freedom of expression - or speech - in fact I would argue that freedom of religion is covered under expression. Saddam's Iraq had the right to vote, Iran has the right to vote, Venezuela has the right to vote, and so does Cuba. If indeed the right to vote is the only answer the government accepts for that question, it is a frightening thing indeed and maybe even the reason for the results of the experiment run in Arizona.

I find myself very curious what the results of the same experiment would be if run on all high school students, college students, and adults. This sort of basic ignorance of our country's history and governmental structure would explain how Franken, Frank, Waxman, Hagan, Spector, et al could become US senators, never mind the morons in The House of Representatives.