I recently had the opportunity to attend a U.S. naturalization ceremony. This ceremony is the culmination of the lengthy legal immigration process, during which the participants officially become U.S. citizens. It is a proud and special day for the participants, who have spent considerable time, effort and funds to attain U.S. citizenship. The process includes demonstrating basic proficiency in English, passing a U.S. history and civics test, demonstrating “good moral character,” which basically means no criminal record, and renouncing allegiance to their former home country. America is indeed a “melting pot,” as there were new citizens from every corner of the globe, including some countries I had to search to find their location on the world map.

Judging from the smiles and photos holding their new citizenship certificates, U.S. citizenship is a cherished gift, and I was reminded that I take my citizenship for granted. Indeed, we are currently a culturally and politically divided country, but we should all be grateful for the blessing of living in a nation where our biggest problems tend to be inconveniences, rather than fundamental needs and the absence of personal and collective autonomy.

Perhaps I have become cynical about the overall quality of U.S. education, but it occurred to me that these new citizens probably know more about U.S. history and government than most of our graduating high school and college students. I hope I’m wrong, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

New citizens must answer six out of 10 civics questions correctly, drawn from a pool of 100 general knowledge questions — so they need to study all 100 questions. If you see any recent graduates, try asking them (heck, try asking some of our elected officials) a few of the immigration test questions, such as: “What is the supreme law of the land?”; “The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?”; “How many amendments does the Constitution have?”; “Who is one of your state’s U.S. Senators now?”; “The House of Representatives has how many voting members?”; “What is the name of the Vice President of the Unites States now?”; “What are two Cabinet-level positions?”; “Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states. What is one power of the states?”; “Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?”; “When is the last day you can send in federal income tax forms?” The full list of study questions is available through the USCIS.gov website if you want to have more fun!

My point is less to embarrass students or family members than it is to highlight what a poor job our country and our education system have done teaching basic history and civics over the past few decades. Understanding our nation’s history — and the reasons why our government is structured the way it is — is essential to preserving a healthy and vibrant democracy. Ronald Reagan famously said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”

Government, at all levels, seems to have little trouble regulating many aspects of our daily lives, and in some cases trampling the state and U.S. constitutions. As a rule, I am skeptical of broad education mandates. A cursory internet search suggests a general decline in U.S. civics scores at the fourth, eighth, and twelfth grade levels over the past decade. The questions asked of students in many of these studies tend to test application of subjective political values and civic principles rather than fundamental knowledge of the U.S. government and its prescription for self-governance and representative democracy.

To ensure a fundamental understanding of U.S. history and government (civics), I would support a requirement that all high school students achieve a minimum score of 75% on the full, 100-question, U.S. immigration history and government test. This information should be core curriculum in every public school system.

Congratulations to all our naturalized citizens who have made the commitment and completed the legal process to become a U.S. citizen. You know more about our nation’s history and government than many natural born citizens. For the rest of us, this should be a wake-up call.

Bruce Butler's column "Common Sense Conversations" publishes biweekly on Tuesdays in the Summit Daily News. Butler is a former mayor and council member in Silverthorne, where he has lived for 20 years. Contact him at butlerincolorado@gmail.com.