news 9
The Rock | Thursday 7 February 2013
British knowledge escapes UK students Tazz Gault
NEWS EDITOR British and international students went head to head last week to see who could achieve the highest score in the new British citizenship test. Conducted by Bournemouth University’s new television channel, JUMP TV, students took the test to see who would make the cut. Results showed that international students had much more knowledge on British history with a combined score of 27, as well as the traditional parts of the test such as the governmental systems and education. The average score for British students was just 23. “I should have known the four questions I got wrong,” said 19-year-old Claudia O’Sullivan, who was one of the British students. “I think the reason I got them wrong was just ignorance on my part because as a British citizen they aren’t questions that I come across daily.” The coalition government recently announced a new, updated version of the citizenship test for aspiring Britons, with a stronger emphasis on British history. To pass the test, candidates must achieve a score of 75% or higher to pass. “I think there should be more questions on everyday things such as the education system, the NHS
The government has recently updated the British citizenship test so that it focuses more heavily on the history of the United Kingdom PP and linguistics. These are things an international person is more likely to come across in everyday situations so would be more useful,” said Claudia from Ensbury Park in Winton. The Home Office has said that the
new test “focuses on values and principles at the heart of being British”. Other news aspects of the test include sport and music, as the more dull and “mundane” subjects such as job interviews, the internet and
water meters have been removed. “I thought it would be a really interesting experiment as so often foreign people can speak much better English than us, so I assumed they would probably be just as good at English history. I didn’t want to leave
it as an assumption so decided to put it to the test,” said Bronya Smolen, JUMP TV’s news editor. “I also thought it would be pretty fun and wanted to test myself! Embarrassingly nearly all the international students beat me.”
Foreign students help Red Cross Abigail Brown
Linda thinks more young people should volunteer ABIGAIL BROWN
Bournemouth’s British Red Cross charity shop has had over 80 overseas students volunteer for them so far this year. The workers have come from many different backgrounds, including those who have had to flee their countries and some whose home countries lack democracy. Manager, Linda Tramontini has had volunteers from far afield, such as China, Korea, Afghanistan and Brazil or much closer to home, for example France, Spain or Italy. “It is nice when students go back home raving about volunteering here,” said Linda. Linda is surprised at the lack of English volunteers in the British Red Cross shops and said: “Not enough
young people volunteer, they think they will be able to go abroad and respond to natural disasters.” Linda explained that what people do not realise most of the time, is that when a natural disaster occurs; the country already has their own responding teams. For instance, with the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011, the British Red Cross was on standby but the Japanese coped on their own. Linda revealed that to work in the shop you have to be first aid trained which she thinks should encourage more volunteers as “young people get to go on free first aid courses so that should in theory make them more interested”. Working at the British Red Cross has made her realise how lucky the British are, she explained further: “We always moan and we are seriously lucky, talking to people who have come here who have nothing, you realise that.
Bournemouth’s quite unique, it takes so many foreign students,” said Linda. “Compared to other charity shops the British Red Cross is very different as it has so many overseas volunteers.” Linda worries that “foreign students get discriminated against” and so tries to help her volunteers get as much out of their time with the Red Cross as possible. Linda said: “I want them to be able to say they have been more than a basic volunteer.” To this end, she obtained employment for one of her regular volunteers from China, and she has also sent two volunteers to do a leadership course for young people. “I have tried to make it quite a younger shop, bring it up to date and run it as a business to attract more young people into the shop.” The Bournemouth British Red Cross shop can be found at 252 Old Christchurch Road.