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Launching her bit for the presidency, Nikki Haley suggested candidates over the age of 75 should have to complete a mental competency test.
Do students here think this is a good idea? Three 9th graders were willing to answer our questions about testing.
Owen Dugan argued that a mentally incapable president will “make decisions in the future, affecting the well-being of our country.”
Matt Harper urges us to “look at our recent presidents, if you’re mentally incompetent you are irresponsible and that’s not good for that type of job.”
Alec Rockey states that presidents “don’t need to take a test” for reason that “it is perfectly fine if you’re incompetent.”
With recent presidents, people are really starting to question whether our leaders are being held liable for their mental state. Within the last couple of presidents elected, both within the age Haley suggests requires competency testing, many argue presidents can differ mentally and age is a potential problem. Without a competent president, how will our country thrive?
What would that test look like?
Many citizens believe that the presidents we elect should have to take a mental competency test. These tests consist of questions surrounding current events, problems, and people in our world. They ask these questions multiple times to ensure the test taker is sure of their answers. These tests will not only be focused on current events, but they will also ask questions related to past and personal(such as childhood)events that are only particular to the taker. They will, again, be asked to describe these events once more.
In 2017, President Trump completed the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, with a cabinet member holding a press conference about his high score –
While many do believe that these tests have become necessary, our small survey of Journalism 1/Avonews Online staff as a whole came to the conclusion that these tests would be unfair to the elected candidates and those who voted for them. Students overall do not seem to think that these are necessary
