TOPEKA — In what founding document does the phrase “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” appear? Why did the United States enter the Persian Gulf War? Why do U.S. representatives serve shorter terms than U.S. senators?

These are among the 128 questions on the U.S. citizenship test, and they could become study material for Kansas students.

Under a bill that also mandates teaching students about the dangers of communism and socialism, high school freshmen would be required to take a 100-question exam based on the civics test that prospective U.S. citizens take during the American naturalization process.

lumps the test into state-mandated American history and civics classes in public and accredited private and parochial schools, and students would have to pass the test before earning a diploma.

The bill passed the Senate on Thursday in a 26-14 vote. It also requires the State Board of Education to craft curricula that teaches K-12 public school students about “negative impacts of communist and socialist regimes and ideologies.”

The bill is rooted in conservative circles concerned about anti-Americanism and contested statistics that purport Gen Z Americans are attracted to communist and socialist ideals. Sen. Brad Starnes, a Riley Republican and former school superintendent, put forth the bill and assured the House Education Committee on Monday that neither the civics test nor the curricula will replace existing units on American history.

The committee on Tuesday approved an amendment to the bill to add fascism to the curricula.

Research on younger generations’ inclination toward socialist or communist causes is muddy. A 2019 Gallup poll found millennials and Gen Z, ages 18-39, . As a whole, however, Americans still than socialism.

Joshua Reynolds, a policy analyst for Cicero Action, a conservative think tank’s advocacy arm, backed the bill, citing three separate polls indicating favorable views of communism and socialism among 18-39 year olds.

Reynolds cited in testimony a 2020 poll from the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation that “63% of Gen Z and Millennials believe that the Declaration of Independence guarantees ‘freedom and equality’ better than the Communist Manifesto, compared to 95% of the Silent Generation.”

Leah Fliter, assistant executive director of advocacy for the Kansas Association of School Boards, said socialism and communism curriculum might be inappropriate and complex for early grades.

“We feel that this bill has been drafted without looking at the Kansas state standards for graduation,” she said Monday.

The Kansas State Board of Education already recommends instruction on communism and socialism, according to Monday testimony from board members Cathy Hopkins and Beryl New. The board, they wrote, “has established history, government and social studies standards that prepare students to be informed, thoughtful, engaged citizens as they enrich their communities, state, nation, world and themselves.”

If passed, both of the bill’s provisions would go into effect July 1, making next school year’s freshmen the first group to be required to pass the civics test as a condition of graduation.

During the naturalization process, most prospective U.S. citizens must complete an interview and citizenship test, which consists of an English portion and civics portion. People must answer at least 12 of 20 civics questions correctly, which are selected at random from a cache of about foundational American events, figures, principles and procedures. Kansas high school students would have to take a 100-question exam containing questions substantially similar to those that appear on the citizenship civics test, the bill said.

Arizona has required its high schoolers to pass a civics exam based on the U.S. citizenship test since 2017, and in 2026 raised the passing threshold, requiring students to answer at least 70 of 100 questions right instead of the original 60. Wisconsin has required the test since 2015.

Arizona only offers the test in English while Wisconsin offers versions in Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese.

The Kansas proposal does not specify a designated language. Students could request to take the test as early as seventh grade, and they can take it as many times as necessary to pass. Students must get an 80% or higher on the test to pass.

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was among the first states to adopt such a measure in 2015. , signed into law by the governor in 2018, took effect two years later amid a flurry of conservative-led education initiatives, many aimed at curtailing classroom discussions about the history of racism in America.

While some states allow schools to develop their own assessments around civics, others use the . Several states do not require schools to report their results, and the mandate often carries with it no additional funding. That’s led critics to wonder if the push is largely symbolic — and some civics experts to find the movement wanting.

Donna Phillips, vice president and chief program officer for the California-based , questioned the use of the citizenship test as a means to impart civics lessons. 

“The naturalization test, for someone who is not in education, social studies or civics, is an easy grab,” she said, but it’s incomplete. 

While it might be better than nothing for those states that do not offer civics in other courses, it’s minimal on its own, requiring only rote memorization rather than critical thinking, she said. 

Data shows nearly 109,000 Pennsylvania students were assessed in the subject in 2020-21, the last school year for which data was available, and nearly 92,000 passed.

The state, a in the upcoming midterm elections, has 500 school districts ranging in size from 200 students to more than 140,000. Some reported the results for the entire district in one pass/fail number while others sent individual outcomes for each school. 

In some cases — as seen in Allegheny Valley, Interboro and South Fayette Township school districts — nearly all children passed. In others — including Annville Cleona, Southwest Leadership Academy, and some 9th graders within the School District of Lancaster — half failed. 

Nearly 18,000 students earned a perfect score.

Taking civics to heart in central Pennsylvania 

Todd Cammarata, a social studies teacher at Tyrone Area High School in central Pennsylvania, said all citizens — not just those who go through the naturalization process — should have a basic understanding of government, history, culture and geography. 

“It’s easier to get buy-in from students on the importance of civic education when I ask them, ‘Do you think every natural-born U.S. citizen should know what we expect naturalized citizens to know?’” he said. “Their answer is almost always ‘Yes.”

No test is perfect, Cammarata said, which leads to other important lessons. 

“The only woman specifically mentioned on the (U.S. citizenship) test is Susan B. Anthony and the only civil rights leader or person of color specifically mentioned is Martin Luther King, Jr.,” he said. “So we discuss what they think might be missing from the test or things that are there that are not necessary. This usually leads to a lively discussion of what’s important for citizens to know.”

Less than 10% of Cammarata’s students pass the test on their first try — that initial attempt is a practice test meant to assess their civics knowledge — but nearly all sail through the exam months later, he said.

Some score exceptionally high: Roughly 15 of 45 students last year answered all 100 questions correctly, exempting them from Cammarata’s final exam as per the teacher’s promise. 

Austin Lucas, 15 and a 10th grader, was among the few who passed the test on the first try. 

“It was stuff I learned in school years before,” he said. “I have a pretty good memory.”

Logan Rumberger, 16,  also in the 10th grade, didn’t know enough about the House of Representatives to earn a passing mark on the first go-round but is confident he’ll score higher on the actual test. Like many of Cammarata’s students, he believes all those who live in the United States should have this basic knowledge. 

“Other people have to take it to become U.S. citizens,” he said of the naturalization test. “If we are born here, I feel we should know about our country.” 

Phillips, of the Center for Civic Education, said educators are wise to go deeper than the exam itself. 

“State-level social studies specialists and their district-level counterparts can really do a lot to move beyond the nature of the test,” she said, particularly when results are reported to the state and passage is mandatory for graduation. 

In that case, she said, the topic gains importance and those who work in social studies acquire influence. 

“A lot of times, when assessments are offered only in ELA, math and, in some cases, science, social studies is left behind,” she said. “Getting a seat at the table at the state level is an advantage.” 

Required, but not reported

Arizona, which mandated a civics requirement in 2015, and now requires schools to report the results to the state — and make them .

adopted the civics requirement in 2015 and it went into effect the following year. State officials don’t keep track of test results because it is not a state-administered exam. But a spokesman for the state department of education said Utah’s graduation rate last year was 88.1%, so “it is safe to assume that it (the statewide passage rate) is at least that high.”

law also passed in 2015, but didn’t take effect until the . Since that time, students must correctly answer 65 of 100 civics questions to graduate and may retake the test until they reach that goal. Results are not reported to the state: They are kept at the district level. 

civics requirement began with students in grade 9 in the 2017-18 school year. Since that time, they’ve been required to correctly answer 30 of 50 questions pulled from the country’s naturalization exam to pass the test. Passage, though, is not a graduation requirement and results are not reported to the state. has a similar policy. 

Kentucky’s policy, which requires students to pass a 100-question civics test, took effect July 1, 2018. The exam was

Some state’s requirements have not yet gone into effect. 

July 1, 2023, when students will be required to pass a locally developed civics exam covering the structure, function, and history of the United States government; the rights and responsibilities of citizens, and noteworthy government and civic leaders. Aspiring graduates must also correctly answer 70 percent  of 128 naturalization test questions.

Educators look for their knowledge to extend well beyond high school. 

“I am hopeful that my students retain some of what the citizenship test teaches them, but I am even more hopeful that students take their rights and responsibilities as citizens seriously as they become adults,” Cammarata said.