Letters to the Editor: Immigrants take a citizenship test. How would natural-born Americans score?

To the editor: Testing prospective citizens on civics is fine. But how many current citizens could pass the American citizenship exam? (“U.S. citizenship test changes are coming, raising concerns for those with low English skills,” July 6)

In one 2017 survey, 37% could not name a single right guaranteed by the 1st Amendment, and only 26% could name the three branches of government. One-third could not even name one branch.

In 2019, the nonpartisan Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy unanimously recommended that, as a standard for civic literacy (though not a requirement for graduation), all high school graduates should be able to pass the American citizenship exam.

Our new citizens, taken together, are likely more informed on American civics than most native-born Americans.

Charlie Firestone, Santa Barbara

The writer is the former executive director of the Knight Commission.

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To the editor: I hardly believe the changes to the naturalization test to become a U.S. citizen will be an obstacle for most immigrants. The long, storied history of immigrants in this country is filled with people overcoming obstacles to become productive members of our nation.

The real story should be how many of our own citizens could pass this exam. Based upon recent events in our nation’s political landscape, it would be a dismally low number.

As of today, I do not know of a single school district that has passage of this exam as a requirement for a high school diploma. This fact is counter to the very reason we have a public education system in this country — to create an informed electorate.

Jason Y. Calizar, Torrance