Problems with New Citizenship Test

United States immigration authorities should brush up on geography before testing others on it.   In a new test, unveiled Thursday by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, immigrants who are trying to become Americans are asked the following: “What is the longest river in the United States?” The only acceptable answer, the government says, is “The Mississippi.” Unfortunately, the government is wrong. The correct answer is “The Missouri”– which several readers helpfully pointed out to the San Jose Mercury News after the paper published a story on the new test Friday.  Click here for the full story.  Thanks to Dan Kowalski for making us aware of the citizenship test snafu by posting about it at http://www.ijjblog.org/2006/12/it_depends_on_whos_asking.html

As any professor will tell you, coming up with a good test is far from easy. 🙂

KJ