Before taking office, or being allowed to participate in parliament they should have to sit (and pass) exam questions be set by respected captains of industry, science, medicine, arts, culture: Linguists, theologists, scientists (biologists, physicists, chemists, astrophysicists), leisure-industry workers, sociologists, ecologists, agriculturalists, other politicians, mathematicians, culturists, artists, musicians, designers, inventors, financiers, teachers, doctors, manufacturers, construction / blue-collar / white-collar / pink-collar workers, farmers, historians, philosophers, geographers, lawyers, sportsmen and the general public (employed and unemployed)... who have I left out? Oh, subjects tested should include ethics, and morality, social, and military history. The questions needn't to be too difficult, but enough to show they're not ignorant. Retests before each end of Parliament. They should have no say in the marking system or pass marks.-- Dub, Aug 27 2012 LBC have been putting MPs general knowledge to the test for some weeks now... http://notasheepmay...his-man-was-mp.html... and they've actually not been doing that well. [po, Aug 28 2012] Imperial examination http://en.wikipedia...mperial_examination200K Chinamen might have been wrong. [4and20, Aug 28 2012] First past the monkey gladiators voting system...... AV_20voting_20or_20FPTMG_3f [not_morrison_rm, Aug 31 2012] BBC News - Trump challenges Clinton to drug test before next debate http://www.bbc.co.u...on-us-2016-37667924WTVF [Dub, Oct 15 2016] What I meant was an appreciation of (all) religions (and their backgrounds) - including atheism and FSM etc. But I digress. The point is Test Them Well before they get to control everything.-- Dub, Aug 27 2012 I think this is a good idea but not a very original one.-- DIYMatt, Aug 27 2012 [21] If it is invalid to base any law on what people think is right, do all laws have to draw their inspiration from the founding documents? Or is basing a law on your personal beliefs okay as long as those ideas are not shared by an organized religious organization?-- scad mientist, Aug 27 2012 The main pitfall of this idea is that it's going to be very difficult to agree on the test questions without all politicians knowing the answers before the test is given. And imagine the lawsuits when someone claims the questions were unfair.
What would be good it to have some system of voting or other criteria (previous teacher of the year, recent noble prize winners, whatever) to select a bunch of people who each contribute a couple questions. There would be no pass/fail for the test, but the answers given by all of the politicians would be made public and graded by the people who wrote the questions. In addition to the answers that would be scored, any notes that the politicians want to included with an answer could be included, but would have to be written within the time limit. They could of course comment and clarify further offline, but only what they wrote during the time limit would be included with the test results.-- scad mientist, Aug 27 2012 There should also be a "bullshit index", based on the presence of buzzword/phrases and null-content.-- FlyingToaster, Aug 27 2012 [DIYMatt], can you cite any prior art? (quick check of other idea titles in this category - which I for one, was surprised to find.) It'd be impossible for all voters to "know" the person they're voting for, so some form of entry exam seems quite sensible to me. I think they should be drug/alcohol tested, too before each vote.-- Dub, Aug 27 2012 They may well have to deal with other countries' politicians, and their society/cultures
{I'll also add that politicians should be able to construct KD build furnature, change a tire, install Linux and build a wall}-- Dub, Aug 28 2012 I think the recall process should be quicker; let the process benefit from our high tech fast-paced world environment.-- RayfordSteele, Aug 28 2012 Who cares about what geographers think?-- leinypoo13, Aug 28 2012 You'd be surprised … "That area looks a likely place to find oil" is a phrase that is known to generate attention from politicians, industrialists and the military (not necessarily in that order).-- 8th of 7, Aug 28 2012 [8th] Good point.-- leinypoo13, Aug 28 2012 ..some peripheral points could be awarded for
1) being able to write their own name (joined-up writing)
2) the ability to discriminate between tax payers money and their own
3) not stealing the pen at the end of the test-- not_morrison_rm, Aug 28 2012 well said [not]-- po, Aug 28 2012 Sufficiently politicized, could it inadvertently lead to another "Great Divergence"? [link] No, it's probably why China moved up so quickly again.-- 4and20, Aug 28 2012 Rather than have the test set centrally, each MP (or whatever) should face an exam set by a demographically apt subset of his or her constituents. Further tests of a more specialised level for ministerial positions ("what do you know about fisheries?"), set by experts in the field.-- calum, Aug 28 2012 and
4) Handing over a largish deposit that is forfeit if, when caught doing something illegal, they say something like "I will defend myself...with the sword of truth and trusty shield of fair play", mentioning no names, Mr Aitken.-- not_morrison_rm, Aug 28 2012 Frankly I don't trust our constituents to come up with reasonable tests any more than I trust them to come up with reasonable candidates. Let the universities write them.-- RayfordSteele, Aug 28 2012 [calum], OK, but as they move up the party (have more influence) they ought to prove they know enough about/appreciate others' constituencies. By the time they make it to PM/President/World leader they ought to be able to hold theirown in Brain of {Britain}, Only Connect, Mastermind, Countdown, Pointless. Every 4 years we should have a World-Leader-ympics, the winner of which gets to be the first to greet any Alien Overlords who drop by ;) [RayfordSteele], Ah yes, it seems I may have omitted academics. Sure. But, the markers should be drawn from the population (like a jury)-- Dub, Aug 28 2012 Actually, it occurs to me that I don't care whether politicians pass this test, I just want to see their answers. Actually, I'd really like everyone to take this test every five years or so, and they're all revealed if they ever run for office. That way we'd have some evidence of their beliefs and the evolution thereof. This would be a lot more effective than only learning what their handlers want us to.-- MechE, Aug 28 2012 Well, that'd be a whole-other game show*. I was thinking of putting them all in Big Brother for a month (nobody watching, except an editor to cut the funny/worrying/upsetting/scary bits together, just make them live in a 24/7 surveillance environment)-- Dub, Aug 28 2012 //who have I left out?//
Psychopathologists.-- Wrongfellow, Aug 28 2012 // Further tests … ("what do you know about fisheries?"), set by experts in the field //
Anyone who claims expertise, yet thinks that fish live in fields, should not be setting academic tests. Unless, of course they work for the EU, in which case any correspondance with reality is purely coincidental.-- 8th of 7, Aug 28 2012 [Wrongfellow] Sure. mental health workers and pediatric/geriatrics staff, pensioners, nursery ... prison workers, magistrates/judges [po], Thanks for making my point.
[4and20] I'm starting to think they ought to have some unknowable questions, to gauge their handling of things they don't (noone) understand(s). Oh, and statisticians and logisticians.
At the peril of becoming a witch hunt, MPs who are involved in running businesses should not be able to claim they don't understand business/finance.-- Dub, Aug 28 2012 I agree with MechE. Whether or not you pass the test shouldn't be as much as a qualifying factor as it is an exposure factor. Before I vote for my elected officials, I really would like to examine how much they know about science, religion, mechanics, philosophy, biology, etc. I don't like surprises.. especially when a politician erroneously says, "Women's bodies can magically prevent pregnancy."-- Jscotty, Aug 28 2012 That's scary because it's not far off from what a cave dwelling mullah would say. Maybe Afghanistan just needs a Democratic Party to balance things out.-- rcarty, Aug 29 2012 How about a physical entry exam, like they'd have to bounce at least 20 feet after jumping off a ten story building?-- doctorremulac3, Aug 29 2012 Careful, Chris Christie might pass that.-- RayfordSteele, Aug 30 2012 //How about a physical entry exam, like they'd have to bounce at least 20 feet after jumping off a ten story building
Hmm, that's getting a bit like the First past the monkey gladiators voting system, see link (if you really, really have nothing better to do)-- not_morrison_rm, Aug 31 2012 random, halfbakery