"Even though I studied hard, I found the test really, really tough,” she said, noting many questions weren’t straightforward and required critical thinking."Well, now... "critical thinking?" Heaven forbid, 'cos it's not like acquiring citizenship is a big deal or anything.
Now, it's been a while... but can anybody tell me how many questions you have to answer to get an Ontario driver's license? I'm gonna go out on a limb here and venture that it's a tad more than 15.
In it's infinite wisdom, the Globe however, has no problem apportioning blame...
In 2010, the Conservatives overhauled the test, requiring a higher score to pass, emphasizing a need to speak English or French and making questions about Canadian history, identity and values more challenging.Exactly how "challenging" are we talking here? Memorising & reciting the British North America Act? Enumerating the process to make maple syrup? Compiling a list of the women Pierre Trudeau bedded?
To pass the multiple-choice exam, applicants have to get 15 out of 20 questions correct, compared with only 12 previously.That's right... correctly answering 15 questions... which is a way less rigourous process than my adolescent sisters went through every Friday when they wanted to go to a party that included (gasp) boys.
The real question here should be... "Is Canadian citizenship an asset of considerable value"... or should it simply (as in years gone by) be treated as a greasy pole to swell Liberal party membership rolls?
It appears the Globe & Mail has made up its mind.
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FROM THE GLOBE COMMENTS:
"This article failed to mention that perhaps - just perhaps - education standards are higher and illiteracy rates lower in Britain or Australia etc. This in turn will show up on the citizenship test. Like it or not, women from countries like Afghanistan etc might have minimal education because of a culture which won't allow women to be educated. Probably the best thing that can happen is that these people attend the citizenship & language classes here in Canada and get some sort of education."
