I am Dutch, according to my passport, but I just failed miserably at the National Habituation Test. Scoring a 4.7 out of the possible 10… and you need at least a 5.5 to pass the test. The test is made for foreign people who want to become Dutch citizens. They are required to have some basic knowledge of Dutch language, people, customs, history and culture. Good thing, as I think it’s important to have this basic knowledge to integrate in our society and so to have some idea about the country they are about to go live in.

But then, seeing and doing the test… it proves to be quite stupid. If I am not able to successfully pass the test, how in heavens name will any foreigner pass the test?! Well, I have been away a lot the last couple of years, but that shouldn’t be a valid reason. Because why should I know in what week a pregnant woman needs to go to the doctor? Or that I can’t ask gay people who are bothering me with their behaviour that they go do their thing somewhere else? Or how long it takes to travel from Amsterdam to the east of Holland by train??? Strange stuff…

My test result

This entry was posted on Friday, March 10th, 2006 at 17:58 and is filed under News & media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.