Immigrants must pass this civics test. Could your student?

Hoosier students who want to graduate from high school could soon be required to pass the same civics test as immigrants who want to become U.S. citizens.

That's the idea behind a measure that one of Indiana's top education lawmakers plans to introduce during the upcoming legislative session, which convenes Jan. 6.

"I believe that if we're asking someone from a foreign country to know this information, that our own citizens ought to know it," said Senate Education Committee Chairman Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn.

The bill is still being written, but it would require all public and charter school students to correctly answer at least 60 percent of the 100 civics questions that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services uses to administer its naturalization test, Kruse said.

Immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship are asked 10 of those 100 questions and must answer six correctly to pass.

The test includes basic American government and history questions, such as "Who was the first President?", "Why does the flag have 13 stripes?" and "When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?"

Kruse said students would be able to take the test any time from 8th grade to 12th grade. Passing it would be a condition for receiving a diploma, he said.

His bill will make Indiana one of about 15 states where such legislation is being considered, said Sam Stone, political director for the Civics Education Initiative, an Arizona-based non-profit group that is lobbying for the civics test across the country.

About 92 percent of immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship pass the test on their first try, Stone said, but studies in Arizona and Oklahoma have found that less than 5 percent of high school students passed the test.

"Those are really poor numbers," he said.

The group's push for a new civics test is a reaction to the current emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, subjects, which he said has caused a "massive shift away from civics and social studies."

"No matter how much knowledge you have, if you don't know how to use that knowledge within our system of government, it's not much good," he said. "Our government was designed to be run by informed, engaged citizens. We have an incredibly dangerous form of government for people who don't know how it works."

A spokesman for Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz said she hadn't seen the legislation and that it would be premature to comment.

Can you pass the U.S. citizenship civics test?

Could you pass the test? Try answering these 20 questions.

While these questions are from the actual naturalization civics test, the real test is not multiple choice. Rather, immigrants must orally answer up to 10 questions from a list of 100. A score of at least 60 percent is required to pass. These sample questions and answers are taken from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.

Call Star reporter Tony Cook at (317) 444-6081. Follow him on Twitter: @indystartony.