Last Thursday, the Bush administration unveiled a new and supposedly improved civics test for immigrants who are applying for citizenship. Unlike the old test that relied mostly on rote memorization of names, dates and types of elected officials, the new test "focuses more on fostering an identification with American values." The new test moves away from random trivia and emphasizes basic concepts about the structure of government as well as American geography and history, including many questions about slavery and the civil rights movement. Like the old exam, created in 1986, an immigration officer asks 10 questions of varying levels of difficulty, taken from a publicly available list of 100. Immigrants must answer six correctly to pass. The new test is a result of a six-year long process that has cost the government $6.5 million, and has been the subject of heated debate.

The government tested these new questions on 6,000 immigrants who were applying for naturalization. Despite an increase in pass rates from 84 percent with the old test to 92 percent on the pilots for the new tests, many immigrant groups complain that the test has become even more difficult with the new abstract questions requiring more exact answers than previous questions. A 69-percent increase in citizenship application fees adds another barrier to citizenship. Conservatives, however, seemed to be more satisfied with the new test.

As the debate over the new and old tests rages, I decided to check out the test for myself. My conclusion was that this test does not accurately judge immigrants' knowledge of American values and thus fails as a citizenship requirement. In fact, the whole debate seems quite useless. Although the new questions do require a more abstract understanding of American ideas, many questions (example: "Name one state that borders Mexico." ) still rival the old test in triviality. These questions do not measure knowledge of American politics and values, but are more reminiscent of middle-school U.S. history and geography. As I'm sure many of us have discovered, random facts learned in middle school do not prove very useful in real life. Nor will they help to assimilate immigrants or instill in them a pride for America.

Of course, there are more useful questionson the test about the American constitution, political system and values, but the way in which the test is administered defeats its purpose. There are 100 questions, all of which are available online for aspiring immigrants to look over (http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/100q.pdf). The structure is again reminiscent of a middle-school civics test. What American student hasn't had the experience of cramming in all the random facts the night before and forgetting most of them the minute he walks out of the classroom door? The structure of the test encourages immigrants who can afford the time to employ the same method in an effort to get citizenship, and discriminates against working-class immigrants who may have to prioritize earning a wage over memorizing factoids. Of course, if someone has been living in this country for five years, one would hope that they would have learned the basic American values behind "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" as they went about the business of their everyday lives. This is especially pertinent if they come from a country without the freedoms that America promises. Memorizing answers to arbitrary questions will not make them feel more American. Six questions out of 10 really may not be that much, but there will always be some immigrants who will be denied citizenship even if they knew everything about the American political system, but failed to name "one American Indian tribe in the United States."

It wouldn't surprise me, either, if many Americans didn't know the answers to questions such as, "Who are the Senators and House Representatives of your state and district?" Although we want our immigrants to participate in politics, should the government really hold them up to an arbitrary standard above that of the apathetic citizen who was born here and did not have to jump through hoops to immigrate to this country and make something of themselves?

It is not random facts but the principles of freedom, equality and democracy that unite Americans. These American values also connect to the other issue with the citizenship requirements: high application fees that may be beyond the means of lower-income immigrants. Immigrants who cannot afford the test should be able to still take it because citizenship in America is not based on social class, but equal rights for all citizens; immigrants should get an equal chance to become citizens as well.

The other requirements for citizenship-permanent residency of five years, "good moral character" and English proficiency-clearly make sense. We shouldn't make citizens of criminals, and if someone has been living in this country for five years, he needs to be proficient in the English language in order to be a functioning member of society. But the short 10-question civics exam has too many flaws and should be removed all together; at least, its format should be radically revamped to make it less arbitrary. America is a country based on a broad set of values, not trivial facts; immigrants should not be denied citizenship for forgetting "When is the last day you can send in federal income tax forms?"