PHOENIX – Just days before Arizonans join with the rest of the country in celebrating Independence Day, a new study shows most of the state’s high school students wouldn’t pass the test to become American citizens.
The Goldwater Institute asked 1,140 high school students 10 random questions from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services exam.
In order to become US citizens, immigrants must answer six of the 10 questions correctly.
According to the
Freedom from Responsibility: A Survey of Civic Knowledge Among Arizona High School Students, only 3.5 percent of the students in the study got six or more correct.
"The results of this survey are deeply troubling," said Matthew Ladner, Ph.D., vice president of research at the Goldwater Institute. "Despite the billions of dollars poured into education, Arizona high school students display a profound level of ignorance about American history, government and geography."
According to the Goldwater Institute, charter and private school students performed better. Charter school students had a passing rate about two times higher than traditional public schools and private school students were almost four times higher.
Test your own knowledge. Here are the 10 questions used by Strategic Vision, LLC in conducting the telephone survey.
1. What is the supreme law of the land?
2. What do we call the first 10 amendments to the Constitution?
3. What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?
4. How many Justices are on the Supreme Court?
5. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
6. What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States?
7. What are the two major political parties in the United States?
8. We elect a U.S. Senator for how many years?
9. Who was the first President of the United States?
10. Who is in charge of the Executive Branch?
Click to the next page to see if your answers are correct.
