Citizenship is No Longer "20 Questions"

Scott Hardie | November 14, 2006
The new national citizenship exam is based on civic vocabulary and the concepts of democracy, not on factoids about American history. (link) "The idea is not to toss up roadblocks, it's to make sure people who apply for citizenship and want to become citizens understand and adhere to the values we have as a society, the values that are part of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights." Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Reading the title of the article and coming up with the title for this discussion, it occurred to me that citizenship exams would make for an interesting TV game show. Sure, some people would object that it's undignified, but it could be tastefully done, and the contestant backstories could be inspiring, showing what hardships they're trying to overcome by becoming American citizens. What do you think?

Kris Weberg | November 14, 2006
Perhaps the show could involve two components: one actual immigrants, and one actual U.S. citizen. If the immigrant beats the citizen at the quiz, the immigrant gets double the cash than the citizen gets for likewise winning.

Scott Hardie | November 16, 2006
Good idea. As long as Borat isn't involved, I'd watch.

Amy Austin | November 16, 2006
heheh