A Question on the US Citizenship Test Changed my Perspective on History and Humility

Your support means everything! Upgrade at 30% offMy wife wore a blue dress and a proud smile on the day she got sworn in as a naturalized US Citizen. The social media post she made appeared as a memory not too long ago, and it was fun to scroll through all the comments from friends and family offering their congratulations.That day represented the end of years of struggle and stress. There are a lot of misconceptions about what it entails to bring your foreign born spouse to the United States. For example, there was never any appointment where my wife and I were taken to different rooms and asked questions to prove whether we knew the intimate details about each other.“What’s your wife’s favorite color?”Nobody ever asks you that.Instead, we went in together with a stack of papers, photos and signed statements that attested our relationship was legitimate. By the time my wife qualified to apply for citizenship, she was herself the mother of a US citizen. The government sees having a child as the ultimate proof of a sincere relationship. I suppose that’s as good a baseline as any.For me, the whole process was extremely stressful. I detest navigating government forms. I dislike having to send in an application and wait for an answer. I’m tormented by the idea of an anonymous bureaucrat in a small office holding a rubber stamp that will determine the course of my future.The day my wife went in for her citizenship test was also the culmination of several months of intense study. We lived in northern Wisconsin, but the nearest immigration center was in Minneapolis. I remember pulling up at the building and having our lawyer meet us in the parking lot.I could tell he was caught a bit off guard because I was driving our old Subaru with the massive dent in the hood. Shortly after we’d closed on our house, we’d hit a deer in a snowstorm which left the front of the car a crumpled wreck. We’d just bought a house, and we were fortunate the car still drove. But we didn’t have the funds to repair or replace it.The lawyer struggled for a moment and I could tell he was trying to find something courteous to say that didn’t sound condescending. He was a tall, thin man with dark hair. His round glasses made him look a bit like a middle aged Harry Potter. “Those Subarus are sure reliable cars,” he said, finally. “They last forever.”I smiled and replied, “They sure do.”Cars are not something I like to spend money on. This was not the first time somebody looked at the vehicle I was driving and assumed I was on hard times. Old, dented cars get you where you need to go. But though I don’t like to spend money on frivolous things, I don’t hesitate to spend it on expert advice.Hiring an immigration lawyer was one of the best things I ever did. His fee was around $800, but the peace of mind his assistance bought me was priceless.Part of the benefit was that the lawyer was allowed to accompany the candidate during her test. I don’t know if the requirements have changed, but at the time candidates were given 10 chances to provide 6 correct answers from a pool of 100 questions.They provided you the list of questions in advance. The citizenship application was around $400, and as part of the cost you received a study book to learn the required information. I took on the role of schooling my wife to make sure she knew the questions cold.In addition to the questions and answers, the book contained pages and pages of supplementary information. At first I thought my wife should read that material, but after looking at it for a while, I realized it was only confusing. The extra information wasn’t necessary.In the end, I sat down and made flashcards. I took these hundred flashcards with us wherever we went, and ran my wife through them twice a day. I kept telling her I wanted her to know the answers so well that she could produce them without having to think.We went through those flashcards again and again until every time she did the series she either got them all right or had no more than one wrong.In addition to the basic information, there were a couple other tricks she had to keep in mind. For example, we took the test in Minnesota but she was required to name her state senators. So every time that question came up, I had her say, “I am a resident of Wisconsin” and then give the correct response.I was pleased that the immigration lawyer was with her. I was worried that she wouldn’t be treated fairly, and that he’d be able to defend her responses. You can take the test here to see how you do.While I was studying with my wife, I noticed something odd. July 4th, 1776 is generally considered the birth date of the United States. However, the Constitution wasn’t ratified until 1788, and George Washington wasn’t sworn in as President until 1789. One of the questions on the citizenship test required the applicant to name the first president. The answer is George Washington, but his presidency didn’t start for more than a decade after the national birth date.Most people have probably heard about the Articles of Confederation which was a predecessor to our current government. But did you know that under the Articles of Confederation, 8 individuals served one-year terms as President of the United States?Do you know who the first one was?Now, I’m sure academics and history buffs and college professors know the answer. But if you were to interview 100 random people, how many do you think would know the first President of the United States under the Articles of Confederation? Doesn’t it seem odd that we don’t talk about that person?I’m a pretty well-read individual and I am not ashamed to admit that I had absolutely no idea this person existed. In my informal surveys, I’ve never met anyone else who could bring up his name.The answer is John Hanson. He was a statesman from Maryland who could rightly be called the first President of the United States.I find it sad to think I never would have heard of him if I hadn’t been helping my wife study for her citizenship test. Even then it was only blind curiosity that inspired me to do some digging. I noticed the discrepancy between when the country was founded and when the “first” president was sworn in, and I thought, “Wait a minute, these numbers don’t make sense.”At first, I got excited about my discovery and I was about to tell my wife, but then I realized she had enough on her plate and this would only be confusing. If the immigration agent asked, “Who was the first president?” and my wife said, “John Hanson,” it would be up to the lawyer I’d hired to earn his fee.“Technically that is correct.”This also represents why I am generally suspicious of tests. If there are two defensible answers, a dishonest examiner could mark you wrong no matter which answer you give. That is a simple example of how injustice is perpetuated. Obviously, this is the type of obstacle that’s more likely to confront a candidate that can’t afford a lawyer.All of these thoughts weighed heavily on my mind as my wife went off to take her test. I was pacing like a nervous father who had been prohibited entry into the delivery room. But when the time came, she gave six straight correct answers, and the examiner was friendly.“There’s no need to continue, you’ve completed that part of the test,” he said.“But I’m ready! Keep going! I know them all!” my wife insisted. It was anticlimactic after all the studying. She even teased me for stressing out about it so much.“You got all worried for nothing. It was easy,” she said.“It was easy because you were prepared,” I replied.I was proud of her. I had pushed her hard, and she’d met the challenge. I admit, I do the same thing with my kids. This case represented exactly the result you want. I wanted to avoid the miserable situation where she had to sit there stressing out with her entire future riding on the random chance of the next question.It’s easy to overlook the benefit of being prepared. My family often gives me a hard time because I insist on showing up at the airport hours before a flight. I’d much rather relax in the lounge than stress about whether or not we’ll be able to get to the gate on time. But when you always arrive on time, you can’t compare it to the inconvenience and extra expense of showing up late.Competence goes underappreciated.We can’t ever lose sight of the fact that stressful scenarios have a detrimental impact on our ability to perform. It’s relatively easy to make a free throw in basketball. It’s a lot harder to make that free throw if it’s to win the championship game in front of a rabid mob of fans.My wife is right that there is a danger in being over-prepared, such as when you start doing research into the veracity of answers that have already been provided. That kind of effort belongs in an academic journal, not as the basis of a pedantic argument in an immigration office when your citizenship is on the line.Ultimately the lesson I took from this whole experience is one of humility. You have to do more than simply master a skill. You have to make sure you’ve mastered it to the point that you’ll still be able to perform even when you’re under intense stress. We should never be overconfident in our abilities or our achievements. After all, John Hanson can boast of being the first President of the United States of America, but if you ask most American citizens, they won’t have heard of him.Even if you were one of the principal figures in the birth of a nation, in the fullness of time it’s quite possible that the memory of your achievements will be largely forgotten. Even when you think you’re prepared, it’s valuable to put aside your pride and find the discipline to prepare a little more.Preparation brings us peace of mind, even when we’re not the ones being tested.You all make this newsletter happen! Thanks for your sponsorship! 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