In lieu of a post here today, I have a piece on CNN.com entitled “Citizenship isn’t about passing a civics test.” Please read it there, but it begins:

As Congress debates immigration law, it cannot avoid debating citizenship. Who gets to be a citizen? And what should citizens know, believe, and do?

Under current law, would-be citizens must pass the U.S. Naturalization Test, which poses factual questions about civics and history such as: “What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence?” …

This test assumes that a competent citizen knows some basic information about the U.S. political system. Most American students must demonstrate similar competence. All U.S. states have standards for K-12 social studies and, typically, the teacher assesses knowledge with paper-and-pencil tests that resemble the naturalization test.

One question is whether these requirements reflect a worthy definition of citizenship. …. Another question is whether studying for short-answer tests teaches people much …