UK Citizenship Test

Julia Svetlichnaja has written a poignant piece about taking the UK citizenship test. Her piece is laced with irony about growing up in the Soviet Union, 'where to be a "good citizen" meant toeing the party line, even if your toes got frostbite' and then moving to London, one of the capitals of the free West.

She paints a picture of a dingy ritual presided over by rude staff, who administer public humiliation to the prospective 'citizens'. In lots of other ways she brings out the petty, bureaucratic, nature of the tests.

'There were no questions regarding history, current affairs, how the country is governed, culture or politics. All the questions were related to Government policies: such as the preconditions for taking paternity leave or who has a priority in free housing... When are children allowed to work? What is their minimum wage? ... In short, all about how to navigate through endless policies and rules, clauses and exemptions, it was all very instrumental; questions did not seek any understanding of what society is about, only how to obey the rules'.

This seems to capture the process very well. The intent is not to create citizens. The intent is not to encourage people to breathe life into the body politic. The intent is not to encourage critical, enquiring, engaged individuals. The intent is to create people who obey the rules.