[bm127]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18662531

What do people think of this?

Seems foolish to change the test away from daily life questions which are relevant to integrating on a day to day basis, towards historical facts.

"will include sections about key battles, such as Trafalgar, and British inventions and discoveries."

Theresa May says in the article that it will allow immigrants to "understand British life allowing them to properly integrate into our society."

Personally I fail to see how knowing about the battle of Trafalgar etc will help anyone integrate into our society, as (correct me if I'm wrong here) it has very little, if any reference to daily life here.

A large number of people who were born here will have little knowledge of British inventions, discoveries and historical battles, so why should it be expected that those emigrating here should know these things?

Don't want this to turn into a general debate on immigration, just interested to hear peoples views on what the content of the immigration test should be.

[Aphotic Cosmos]

A measure of both practicality and historical context is required, surely? Understanding the history of Britain, it's empire and people is important for any citizen of the UK, immigrant or not, but understanding the nature of modern Britain, whilst harder and more controversial to teach, is far more useful in allowing immigrants to assimilate. You can't strike up a conversation at the pub about Trafalgar or Waterloo, because it's just not what's done. Unless you're history student, but then you fail anyway . . . ()

[Negaduck]

I don't know a thing about The Battle of Trafalgur. Someone deport me.

[Bellissima]

seriously what is the point... most BRITISH BORN people couldn't answer this stuff... it simply has no use... won't help integration (i feel one of the main problems with integration is that SOME people aren't willing to allow people to integrate into society anyway then go on and complain about how integration has failed/is impossible) at all... it's just another move to make it look like they are "doing something" and they can pat eachother on the backs.

i have no problem with them adding this stuff to the immigration tests, none at all... i just think the way that they are presenting it and saying that it will help integration is stupid. they are just doing it for their own image... of course. why else.

[ArthurWinterthurII]

Even those whose ancestry may trace centuries back to England (those so-called Indigenous) and were born here may not know much about the history of the land lol!

[Joe911]

What do you expect from an out of touch government? A better immigration test, in my opinion, would be a mixture of assessing what skills a person has to offer and their language ability.

[Darkphilosopher]

I really want to punch Theresa May
Her "policies" are really starting to get on my nerves now.

Spoiler:

Show

DISCLAIMER: I am not advocating violence towards Theresa May.

[TheHistoryStudent]

(Original post by Aphotic Cosmos)
A measure of both practicality and historical context is required, surely? Understanding the history of Britain, it's empire and people is important for any citizen of the UK, immigrant or not, but understanding the nature of modern Britain, whilst harder and more controversial to teach, is far more useful in allowing immigrants to assimilate. You can't strike up a conversation at the pub about Trafalgar or Waterloo, because it's just not what's done. Unless you're history student, but then you fail anyway . . . ()

This really, there needs to be a balance between practicality and also a sense of the culture and history I think...

and Lol at this:-

"But Habib Mirza, who runs citizenship courses at BSGS College, in Whitechapel, east London, said proposed changes would represent "a massive barrier for anybody who wants to settle down in the United Kingdom, the vast majority of whom cannot speak English anyway".

....

And he said asking people from non-Christian backgrounds to learn the National Anthem "might be against their religious beliefs, it might be against their personal beliefs" and it was therefore "unfair"."


If you are wanting to come and live in this country and find work, then I'm sorry but knowing English is essential, the first step to demonstrating you know and understand the English language is being able to do the citizenship test...

and secondly - while I can't see much use in learning the national anthem (because when do we actually sing it apart from at ceremonies?, and how many of the native Brits actually know more than the 1st verse?) at the end of the day it's learning 4-5 lines of song, which they may or may not have to demonstrate in 1 test, after which they can forget about it...hardly a big ask is it?

anyway...they're my thoughts on the subject.

[Aj12]

Why did the old test have questions about benefits on them? This should be the very last concern of anyone immigrating and applying for citizenship

[Fallen]

(Original post by Joe911)
What do you expect from an out of touch government? A better immigration test, in my opinion, would be a mixture of assessing what skills a person has to offer and their language ability.

I agree on your ideals, but don't think that the old government's changes to the questions were any better (in fact, they were much worse).

Included in the questions currently being scrapped are entirely political questions about how bad Thatcher was and how good the Blair years were. While one could have a lively debate on that, it is not a plain fact one should test immigrants on.

The whole idea of this test (which all major parties subscribe to) is flawed. As you say: language and skills, not trivia. This is not a strictly Tory issue.

[Snagprophet]

Nothing wrong with learning British history, such as the many English exploits and that little effort Scotland did alone before epically failing as an independent state. Maybe immigrants should learn recipes of foods invented in England, such as apple pies and Haggis?

[TRS-T]

I'm glad that they have to learn the national anthem.

[TRS-T]

(Original post by TheHistoryStudent)
And he said asking people from non-Christian backgrounds to learn the National Anthem "might be against their religious beliefs, it might be against their personal beliefs" and it was therefore "unfair"."

Lol you just know that Muslims will refuse to sing God Save The Queen.

If they do refuse to sing it, deport them straight away.

[Joe911]

(Original post by Fallen)
I agree on your ideals, but don't think that the old government's changes to the questions were any better (in fact, they were much worse).

Included in the questions currently being scrapped are entirely political questions about how bad Thatcher was and how good the Blair years were. While one could have a lively debate on that, it is not a plain fact one should test immigrants on.

The whole idea of this test (which all major parties subscribe to) is flawed. As you say: language and skills, not trivia. This is not a strictly Tory issue.

Oh I don't, I meant that this is just another case where the policy makers are taking things in entirely the wrong direction. The original test, like you say was awful in its own right. There was a series on channel 4 ages ago called 'Make Bradford British', and in it, majority of the people who took it, failed it.

[cl_steele]

the original test was a load of BS hopefully this one might be a bit better, i seem to remember my politics teacher asking my entire class to take it as homework for a bit of fun, out of 30 people who took it 2 passed and that was at a scrape... [happy to say i just managed it ]

[Piprod01]

(Original post by TRS-T)
I'm glad that they have to learn the national anthem.

God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen,
Na Na Na NAAAAA Na Na,
...

[Piprod01]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/ju...tizenship-test

May also wants to drop sections of the official Life in the UK: A Journey to Citizenship handbook, which explains things such as the Human Rights Act and how to claim welfare benefits and give details of managing everyday life such as reading the gas meter, getting home contents insurance or dealing with the local council.

WTF Theresa May!?

[A Mysterious Lord]

Surely they should just make them sit a GCSE English Language paper to see if they can communicate properly in English? Hell, a lot of pupils currently getting a C can hardly string a coherent sentence together, should be a piece of cake for an immigrant.