英學者呼籲改革公民入籍測試
A test taken by around 150,000 would-be British citizens each year is just a "bad pub quiz" with too much focus on culture and history at the expense of practical knowledge, an academic has said.
The Life in the UK test, which must be passed to qualify for indefinite leave to remain in Britain, does not require practical necessities in everyday life, Durham University's Dr Thom Brooks said.
But it is required that new citizens know "trivial" facts such as the year Emperor Claudius invaded Britain, the year that Sake Dean Mahomet launched the first curry house in the country and the age of Big Ben.
Brooks, a US immigrant who sat and passed the test in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 2009, becoming a British citizen in 2011, said the test is a key part of immigration policy but is unfit for purpose in its current form.
"The Life In The UK test has become a bad pub quiz. It has gone from testing practical trivia to the purely trivial and is a major opportunity lost," he said.
"The biggest surprise is the lack of attention successive governments have paid to ensuring the test is fair and not out of date, a surprise even bigger than the sometimes-shocking questions that can be found on the test," said Brooks, a reader in law at Durham Law School.
"Many citizens that were born and bred in the UK would struggle to know the answers to many of these questions.
"Britain will not be more cohesive because more have heard about the Battle of Trafalgar, but rather if future citizens understand better how to participate in daily British life and make a contribution."
The latest edition of the test took effect from 25 March and was based on the third edition of the handbook Life in the United Kingdom.
Brooks argues that the test is inconsistent in what it requires new citizens to know. They are not required to know the number of MPs in Westminster but are required to know the number of representatives in the Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly.
Lord Roberts of Llandudno, vice-chairman of the all party parliamentary group on migration, welcomed Brooks's report, launched at a lecture at Durham University on Thursday evening.
"I am delighted to echo his call that the test, which is both impractical and irrelevant as it stands, be reformed," he said.
"Surely future Britons should better understand how to participate in daily life, instead of knowing by rote which emperor invaded Britain in AD 43?"
Brooks stops short of recommending that the test is ditched, but instead said it should be reformed so that it is no longer "impractical, inconsistent, trivial, gender imbalanced, outdated and ineffective".
The test requires new citizens to know the date of birth and death of nearly 30 men in British history but only four women. No women artists, musicians or poets are mentioned.
Much of the information in the accompanying official handbook does not appear to be part of the test, Brooks said.
The handbook contains about 3,000 facts including five telephone numbers, 34 websites, 278 historical dates and several brief excerpts of British poetry.
Of the 400 official practice questions and answers in one of three official test handbooks, no telephone numbers, no websites, no poetry and only a few dates are mentioned.
A Home Office spokesman said: "We've stripped out mundane information about water meters, train timetables, and using the internet. The new test rightly focuses on values and principles at the heart of being British. Instead of telling people how to claim benefits it encourages participation in British life.
"This is just part of our work to help ensure migrants are ready and able to integrate into British society and forms part of our changes which have broken the automatic link between temporary and permanent migration.
"We have made radical changes to the immigration system and are determined to reduce net migration from the hundred of thousands into the tens of thousands by the end of this parliament. The latest figures show these reforms are working, with net migration falling by more than a third since 2010."
A Conservative party spokesman said: "Dr Brooks is a self-confessed 'active member' of the Labour party, so it's no surprise that he prefers Labour's flawed old test which told people how to claim benefits rather than encourage participation in British life."據英國《衛報》6月14日報道——一名學者表示，每年約15萬人參加的英國公民入籍考試僅僅是一個“拙劣的酒吧測驗遊戲”，它太過專注文化及歷史，而非實用知識。
英國杜倫大學（Durham University）法學院的湯姆·布魯克斯（Thom Brooks）博士表示，想要獲得英國永久居留簽證的外國人必須通過“英國生活”入籍測試，此測試並不需要受試者掌握日常生活的實用知識。
但是，它需要新公民知道一些“瑣碎”的事實，例如克勞狄一世入侵英國的年代、Sake Dean Mahomet開設英國第一家咖喱餐館的年代以及大本鐘（Big Ben）的歲數。
布魯克斯是一名美國移民，他於2009年在泰茵河上的紐卡斯爾（Newcastle upon Tyne）參加並通過了考試，於2011年成爲英國公民。他稱此測試是移民政策的關鍵部分，但它現在的形式不符合它的目的。
他說：“‘英國生活’測試已變成了一個拙劣的酒吧測試遊戲。它從測驗實用瑣事變成了測試真正瑣碎無趣的事實，這是一次重大機會的錯失。”
“最讓人吃驚的是，歷屆政府都缺乏對保持測試公正及測試與時俱進的注意力。這比測試中那有時讓人震驚的問題還要更讓人震驚。”
“許多土生土長的英國公民面對很多問題時也要絞盡腦汁。
“英國不會變得更加團結緊密，因爲會有越來越多的人知道特拉法加大海戰（Battle of Trafalgar）。未來的公民應該更好地理解如何參與英國的日常生活，並做出自己的一份貢獻。”
《英國生活》測試書的最新版從3月25日起開始生效，基於《英國生活》（Life in the United Kingdom）手冊的第三版。
布魯克斯爭論到，測試對新公民的要求是前後矛盾的。受試者不需要知道威斯敏斯特（Westminster）的議員人數，卻要知道威爾士議會（Welsh Assembly）、蘇格蘭議會（Scottish Parliament）以及北愛爾蘭議會（Northern Ireland Assembly）的代表人數。
蘭迪德諾（Llandudno）的羅伯茨勳爵（Lord Roberts）是跨黨派議會移民小組的副主席，他對布魯克斯在13日晚間在杜蘭大學講座上提出的報告很是贊同。
他說：“我很高興能在改革測試的問題上和他擁有相同的看法，此測試既不切實際又不相干。”
“未來的公民應該更好地理解如何參與英國的日常生活，而不是去死記硬背哪個皇帝在公元43年入侵了英國，這一點肯定的。”
布魯克斯不認爲該廢棄此測試，而是認爲應該改革此測試，這樣，它就不會再是“不切實際、前後矛盾、瑣碎繁雜、性別失調、老舊過時和無效無用的了”。
該測試要求新公民知曉英國曆史上近30位男性的生卒年月，但女性只要求掌握4位。也沒有提到任何的女性藝術家、音樂家或詩人。
布魯克斯說，官方出版的《英國生活》手冊裏的許多內容在測試中都沒有出現。
一名英國內政部的發言人說：“我們刪去了關於水錶、火車時刻表以及網絡使用的無聊信息。新測試關注的是英國人的核心價值觀和原則。它沒有告訴人們如何獲得利益，而是鼓勵人們參與到英國人的生活中來。”
“這只是我們工作的一部分，幫助確保移民都已準備好，並且有能力融入英國社會，組成英國變化的一部分，這變化打斷了臨時移民和永久移民之間的自動鏈接。
“我們在移民體系上做出了很重大的變革，並且決定在這次議會結束時減少淨移民人數，從幾十萬減少到幾萬。最新數據顯示這些改革正在起作用，淨移民人數從2010年來減少了三分之一多。”
一名保守派的發言人說：“布魯克斯博士是公開承認的工黨‘活躍分子’，所以他更喜歡工黨滿是詬病的老式測試也就不足爲奇了，老測試告訴告訴人們如何獲得利益，而非鼓勵人們參與到英國人的生活中來。”
