Editor: As a current high school senior, I went into my current Civics class believing it was
unnecessary and not useful. Now, at the end of the semester and having participated in a mock naturalization test, it is apparent that civic education has its importance when it comes to understanding citizenship, basic human rights, government, and the responsibilities of being a United States citizen. Even though it could cause some stress, learning about civics through the naturalization test can help young adults understand the rights and responsibilities they are bestowed when it comes to citizenship, and help boost political engagement.

While it is true that making the naturalization test a graduation requirement can help
young adults learn and understand civics, others can argue that it is not fair to students who are already expected to partake in a lot of testing like the SAT and other state assessments.

According to Examiner Empire.com, most teachers “would prefer not to again sacrifice
instructional time on yet another hoop for students to jump through to graduate, particularly in the form of another unfunded mandate.” It is important to acknowledge that naturalization can assist in setting up the foundation of understanding what comes with being a citizen and knowing about what is happening with the government. Understanding and learning the naturalization test questions like” who is one of your state’s U.S Senators now?” can help understand who the Senators are, what they bring to the table, their responsibilities, and the process of electing a senator. In addition to setting up citizens to decide who they want to help run their government when they vote, it could also help them understand how politics have an impact on their lives.

However, issuing the naturalization test as a graduation requirement can also help young
adults better understand the functions of their government and how it is run. According to Alia Wong, “Knowing about your country and about how things work- it’s empowering… You have to know about how the government works in order to make change, and a lot of people don’t.”

This article asserts the fact that knowing how your government works is important and it’s the only way to truly make a “change”. ” A study conducted by the Center for the Study of the American Dream at Xavier University, found that examinees fared better on questions of history and geography; they didn’t do so well when the topic was the Constitution or identifying current elected officials. 75% of those surveyed did not know the function of the judicial branch of our government, while 71% were unable to identify the Constitution as the supreme law of the United States. 63% could not name at least one of their state’s members of the US Senate.”

Therefore, it is evident that the majority of adults don’t know basic fourth grade civic
education. The citizenship test challenges people’s knowledge and understanding of United
States history, government, and the legal system.

Additionally, the naturalization test can help young adults understand the rights and
responsibilities as citizens, and help boost political engagement. “The teaching of how our
government works and who we are as a nation, preparing them to exercise their vote, solve problems in their communities, and engage in active citizenship (Wong). Quite simply, “having civics knowledge can usually be boiled down to having a basic understanding of government systems, understanding basic political structures, and voicing your ideas through voting.”

These articles make the claim that it helps understand people’s rights and engage in
voting. It is important that Americans have a basic understanding about the structure of our government.

Since it is believed that making the naturalization test a graduation requirement is useless,
it is an urgency for older Americans that these young Americans understand their roles and
actions as U.S citizens. In the end, taking and studying deep into the naturalization test comes with many positives to a young adult’s life. The Naturalization Test should be a graduation requirement because students would learn about U.S history, how the government works, and the rights and responsibilities that are expected from them as a U.S. citizen.

—Nathan Rodriguez Duran, via letters@sentinelcolorado.com