CAN YOU PASS THE U.S. CITIZENSHIP TEST?
People commonly equate “citizenship” with membership in a nation state
and with a person’s rights and responsibilities therein. Since at
least the last half of the 18th century, people have desired to be part of a nation
state, or an "imagined community" based on common ties of descent, religion,
and/or language. The drive for belonging has helped determine the course of world
history, both dividing and uniting people and largely shaping their identities.
Today, however, globalization, capital mobility, and information and communications
technology are transforming traditional categories and conceptions of citizenship.
For example, a growing number of people have ties to more than one nation and
hold multiple passports, and Internet sites like Myspace.com are redefining the
meaning of community and the boundaries of citizenship. In a world where
some hold citizenship, or even political office, in more than one country, while
others cannot claim citizenship in any country at all, the question “What
does citizenship mean?” becomes more and more difficult to answer.
Still, nation states continue to determine the qualifications of legal citizenship
and to prescribe citizens’ rights and responsibilities.In most cases, legal
citizenship derives from place of birth or ethnicity, but often it can be derived
from a process of naturalization. In some countries, including the United States,
this process includes taking and passing a citizenship test. In the U.S., the
test for naturalization asks applicants to demonstrate their knowledge of U.S.
history and government, and their ability to speak, read, write and understand
English.
Below you will find a link to the U.S. citizenship self-test, as well as links
to other national citizenship tests. You will also find links to information on
citizenship and citizenship issues around the world. As you participate in courses
and events for this LSA Citizenship theme year, think about how citizenship is
defined in this and other countries, and how these definitions conform to your
expanding conception of citizenship.
U.S.
Citizenship Test
Links to other citizenship tests:
United
Kingdom Citizenship Test
Canadian
Citizenship Test
Background information on citizenship around and of the world:
Australia
Brazil
Denmark
Estonia
Germany
India
Ireland
Malaysia
Mongolia
Namibia
Nigeria
Russia
Ukraine
United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights
United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees
United Nations Development Program, Gender
and Citizenship Initiative |
