Hypothetical situation-on 'britishness'

[Tony]

Can’t work out how to make this a poll so I’ll have to ask the question this way=

 

say some party came into power and said they want only British people here but with one difference- the difference being that after getting rid of all of the foreign born people have left they say everyone left have to take a 'britishness' test or face 'eviction'. The test is on language (English, written and spoken), history, geography and, call it sociology. What percentage do you think would pass?

 

It's an interesting question. Is your passport up to date?

[Kaimani]

It's an interesting question. Is your passport up to date?

 

ha ha. just got a replacement the other day. am good. would you pass it, tony?

[Mecky]

They would probably target specific people with specific questions depending on whether they wanted them to leave or stay.

[Kaimani]

They would probably target specific people with specific questions depending on whether they wanted them to leave or stay.

 

no one will be made to leave. hypothetically, everyone not born here has left and the test is for British people to say if they meet a hypothetical threshold of qualifying for 'britishness'.

[rubydazzler]

So would you have classifications of Britishness? Say, if you were semi-literate would you be Brit/Eng 3rd class?

[Kaimani]

So would you have classifications of Britishness? Say, if you were semi-literate would you be Brit/Eng 3rd class?

 

literacy wouldn't really figure. not to a large extend anyway. you could take a verbal test with the same questions.

 

i was interested in seeing just what percentage people think would 'pass' if, say, the normal immigration nationalization test was taken by people born here.

[HeadingNorth]

So would you have classifications of Britishness? Say, if you were semi-literate would you be Brit/Eng 3rd class?

 

It has been done before, but usually on a much cruder basis such as "your skin colour is black, therefore you are South African 3rd Class."

 

A system based on success in some test or other could function; whether it would be desirable or not is an entirely different kettle of fish. However, the OP's question isn't specifically about "do you think it's a good idea" as "how many people would pass the test?"

 

There was a BBC page a few months ago that offered a selection of questions one might find on a "Citizenship Test." It might be informative to find the link and let we forummers tackle it, but it's late, I'm tired, and there's so much left to do.

 

(Yes, I watched Diamonds Are Forever recently.)

[rubydazzler]

literacy wouldn't really figure. not to a large extend anyway. you could take a verbal test with the same questions.

 

i was interested in seeing just what percentage people think would 'pass' if, say, the normal immigration nationalization test was taken by people born here.

If that's the test you can take online, some of the questions were bizarre. ISTR that one was where does Father Christmas live?

 

Based on those questions probably only about 40 per cent.

 

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[Chris_Sleeps]

BBC - Can you pass a citizenship test?

[HeadingNorth]

If that's the test you can take online, some of the questions were bizarre. ISTR that one was where does Father Christmas live?

 

Based on those questions probably only about 40 per cent.

 

.

 

That's probably the test to which the BBC page referred. The questions in it refer back to the book "Life in the UK" which is, or was going to be, a preparatory text to be read before attempting the test.

 

I agree with you that it contains some rather odd examples of "what it means to be British."