Civics in Action

Posted by Karen Goddard

on Jun 11, 2012

The NH Bar Foundation and the NH Bar Association are collaborating on a civics education and awareness initiative that brings a presentation based on a test that all applicants for naturalization must pass. The presentations pose the question: Do most citizens know enough about US government to pass this test themselves? What does that say about our level of awareness as citizens in a democracy?

Joe Prieto and Lisa Wolford presented the program to our Club. They both have worked in the public defender's office. The NH Bar Association has developed the program to help educate the general public about Civics. Only one in three Americans can identify all 3 branches of the government. Half cannot even name one branch. Joe and Lisa presented questions to the audience that came from the Naturalization test that those seeking US citizenship must pass. They also explained some of the conundrums of law such as, what happens when the state constitution provides a different protection than the US constitution - the more protective constitution prevails.

Overall the audience managed answers that were close to being right most of the time. It was a very enlightening presentation. So remember there are 9 Supreme court justices in Chief Robert's court, the Bill of Rights are the first 10 Amendments of the supreme law of the land - The Constitution and no one is above the law, even our leaders.

Can You Pass the Test?

This is a link to self-study tool. The actual civics test is NOT a multiple choice test. The civics test is an oral test. During a naturalization interview, the candidate is asked up to 10 questions from the list of 100 questions. At least 6 out of 10 questions must be answered correctly to pass the civics portion of the naturalization test.