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Students May Need to Pass Civics Test to Graduate

BEAR CREEK TOWNSHIP — High school students in Pennsylvania could soon be required to take a civics test in order to graduate. State Representative Karen B...
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BEAR CREEK TOWNSHIP -- High school students in Pennsylvania could soon be required to take a civics test in order to graduate.

State Representative Karen Boback wants students to be required to take the 100-question exam that all immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship must pass.

Inside a classroom at Bear Creek Community Charter School, students got a civics lesson from eighth-grade teacher Billy Barnes.

"I always tell the students it's important to be educated on what's going on here, but also we need to know about our past history and how we got here," said Barnes.

Students in this classroom learn about government and how the economy works.

It's a subject one area leader would like to see more of.

That's why Rep. Karen Boback has proposed a bill that would require students to take and pass the United States Citizenship Civics Test before graduating.

"Some kids don't know a lot about America's history, so it might be better if they actually learned something," said Brynn Suta of Wilkes-Barre.

The 100-question exam that's given to immigrants looking to become citizens covers a variety of different U.S. topics.

We decided to have these students try out a 20-question practice version of the test on the internet.

"It was fairly easy," said Chandler Frame.

"I thought it was fairly easy, nothing you could get hung up on," said Elias Bachman.

Students in this civics class tell us they had no problem getting through the practice test. The questions were quite easy. So if they have to take the real test once they reach high school, they feel they will be OK with it.

According to Rep. Boback, several national studies and surveys have shown that students are unable to answer basic questions about U.S. history. That's why she hopes to see this requirement implemented here in Pennsylvania.

Teachers here agree.

"Science has the PSSA, English has PSSA and I think it's important to have at least American History be part of the Keystone and our civics," said Barnes.

There is no word on when this requirement might be implemented in state classrooms.

The bill is currently awaiting a hearing in the house veteran's affairs and emergency preparedness committee.

For a look at the practice test, click here.

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