Editor: I don’t think that the U.S. naturalization test should be a graduation requirement. I think this because I feel that the stress of this test, especially being a graduation requirement, will add stress on high school students. The study says the requirement will help improve civics knowledge and help increase voter turnout. Yet, the results are still unknown with the full effects of having the naturalization test as a graduation requirement. There are also some studies talking about the effects of having tests as a graduation requirement leading to negative effects on students.
While it’s true that there’s a lack of participation in the government with the low voter turnout and the lack of knowledge in civics with the younger generation of students, I still think that forcing students to learn civics through the naturalization as a graduation requirement wouldn’t really work. There is no real evidence that proves that using the naturalization test will help and even then being a student in high school, dealing with college level classes, topping off credits and dealing with other graduation requirements would really lead to a lot of stress. Even if we were to take the test as a graduation requirement and it helps with voter turnout for that year, what are ways to keep those students interested in the government for the long term.
Students who take standardized tests as graduation requirements are more stressed, which will lead to a higher chance of dropping out. High schools that mandate a high stakes test will most likely have a higher dropout rate because these kinds of tests are mandatory to pass. Even with students repeating a grade, they’re still more likely to drop out. So is teaching civics really that important to hold someone’s education for another year? Another study also shows the effects of stress in standardized tests. This shows that students have worse reported scores compared to the previous year when the test wasn’t standardized. So in a sense the stress of having this test as a standardized test, actually reduced the test scores.
Another point as to why we shouldn’t make the U.S. naturalization test a graduation requirement, is because students may lose interest in civics. This correlates to the high stake tests and how stress can affect the interest and motivation of a student to study more about the topic. Tests require memorization and are very strict with the learning process or curriculum. This doesn’t really allow students to expand their knowledge of the topic for themselves. This leads to less interest and a disconnection between civics and students. Some ways to help with students’ attention towards civics is by not making it a test to begin with. Alternatively schools should take civics into consideration and add more civics into the curriculum. Correctly making a curriculum that makes students engaged in civics, and shows them that the government was made to help them, will be a start to motivate our younger generations to be more active in the government.
In conclusion, I don’t think the naturalization test should be a graduation requirement because of how it causes stress to students. This leads to a disconnection between students, lower test grades, and a fixed learning curriculum that doesn’t help students expand on the topic for themselves, leading to a disconnection between students. This also causes a higher drop out rate from high school if tests like these are mandatory. With this topic of teaching civics not really having a lot of knowledge behind the study of how or if this is proven to help improve civics education.
—Rafael Nulud, via letters@sentinelcolorado.com