[KR: From the article, it sounds like the process for revising the text included consultation with liberals, conservatives, and community organizations. However, there is no mention of Latinos in questions on U.S. history, and some of the questions demand knowledge that is greater than what the average voter already knows. Some argue (as Peter Shuck recently did at a conference) that it is a good thing to expect new voters to know more than a 4th-grade level of civics and American history, but isn't this just a new form of "literacy test" for voting that was outlawed in the 1960s for native-born populations?]
September 28, 2007
New Test Asks: What Does ‘American’ Mean?
By JULIA PRESTON, New York Times
Patrick Henry and Francis Scott Key are out, but Susan B. Anthony and Nancy Pelosi are in. The White House was cut, but New York and Sept. 11 made the list.
Federal immigration authorities yesterday unveiled 100 new questions immigrants will have to study to pass a civics test to become naturalized American citizens.
The redesign of the test, the first since it was created in 1986 as a standardized examination, follows years of criticism in which conservatives said the test was too easy and immigrant advocates said it was too hard.
The new questions did little to quell that debate among many immigrant groups, who complained that the citizenship test would become even more daunting. Conservatives seemed to be more satisfied.