Why citizenship tests are full of holes

Many commentators have criticized the naturalization requirements and examination under U.S. law.  Would-be citizens arguably are required to have much more knowledge of American civics, for example, than the average natural-born American citizen.  This article by Simon Kuper in Financial Times suggests the United States is not alone in its naturalization curiosities.  In Europe,

“tests for wannabe immigrants or citizens came into vogue in the era after September 11 2001. Most seemed designed to weed out Muslim fundamentalists. The Netherlands made this most explicit: along with its test, it released an integratiefilm featuring a gay wedding and topless Dutchwomen. These images were presumably meant to shock Muslims out of coming to the Netherlands, just as they would have shocked most Dutch people of a generation ago. The idea was so brilliant that the anti-immigrant Danish People’s Party proposed sticking breasts into Denmark’s film. However, the Dutch soon had to offer a breast-free version of their film, after discovering that diligent, aspirant Dutchmen caught with the hardcore version in, say, Afghanistan, might get into difficulty.”

KJ