Back in school, it was emphasized that at one time in the US, many people had to take a literacy test to be able to vote, and that it was supposedly unjust because it was intentionally engineered so that blacks would fail, and illiterate whites would be literally “grandfathered” in with the Grandfather Clauses.
What endeavors today require or somehow include a basic literacy test, especially in an official or widely recognized context? I’m thinking in the context of the US and the English language, but am interested in other areas where whether or not you can pass a basic literacy test in some language (can include basic arithmetic and basic civic knowledge such as knowing what the applicable national legislature is, how it is formed, and what it can do) has some meaning.
The GED sounds like it might be one, but it seems to be more than a basic literacy test. It sounds like some countries have literacy tests for citizenship. Is there anything else?
Many countries have language tests for immigrants and naturalized citizens. Canada, Germany, Latvia, and the UK are all countries where acquiring certain kinds of residence permits or citizenship is predicated in part on passing a standardized test demonstrating a certain level of fluency in an official language. (The requirement is usually waived for citizens of countries which use the same official language.) Some of these jurisdictions also require the applicant to demonstrate a basic knowledge of civics, either by taking a test (such as the UK’s Life in the UK test) or a course (such as Germany’s Integrationskurs).
Admission to university and other schools throughout the world usually requires fluency in the language of instruction. A literacy test is often mandatory for foreign students.
It is my impression that the civics test (Einbürgerungstest) for alien residents applying for naturalization in Germany is a literacy test in disguise, because it’s really easy:
Anyone too stupid to pass this test, after years’ residence in Germany, would be too stupid to breathe. So I assume the only way to fail would be to be unable to read the test questions.
Not a literacy test, but one does need to read and write well enough to fill out tons of applications - I once helped a very frustrated couple with their daughter’s passport paperwork. Both of them spoke Spanish with a little English but didn’t read or write it at all and the kids were too young to help. He was a Mexican national, she was a natural born US citizen, their daughter was a citizen - did you know you can’t get the passport application in Spanish? Because unless it’s changed, you can’t, and it SUCKS. We were measuring these people’s kids at the reference desk. Regardless of whether you think Americans should all be required to speak English, this obviously was just hurting the innocent kid. So in a sense it was a literacy test that the local librarians helped them with.
Recent news story, some judge in Arizona ordered that some women’s name be removed from the ballot for city counsel because she could not pass a literacy test administered by some BYU professor.
Many years ago, I had to pass a Spanish literacy test in order to be accepted in my university’s study abroad program in Spain. In our program, we were integrated into the regular Spanish university, so it was obviously necessary we display ability to understand and read Spanish at a college level.
