Trump admin civics contest accused of rigging against Sikh finalist

The Presidential 1776 Award competition was established by the Trump administration to honor America's 250th birthday through a civics contest for high school students.

However, the family of 15-year-old Aangad Singh believes he may have been unfairly excluded from the competition's final due to his Sikh background and visible turban, according to NOTUS.

Key Details

Singh, a rising high school junior from Connecticut, entered the competition in February alongside other students nationwide. He scored well enough to reach the finals in Washington, D.C., at the end of June and made the final eight. But his elimination after that left his family—and many of his competitors—puzzled.

• The Singh family did not believe Aangad had performed poorly, but there was no live scoreboard.
• Other contestants told them after the competition that they were certain Aangad had won and were shocked he was not in the top three.
• When Aangad's mother, Ramandeep, asked a Department of Education official (which helped run the contest) for the final scores, the official told her that information was proprietary.

Discrepancies in Scoring

The Singh family waited until the competition was televised on CBS three weeks later. Aangad was shocked to learn that some of his correct answers had been marked wrong.

Example 1: Aangad was asked to provide four examples where federal courts have jurisdiction, as outlined in Article 3 of the Constitution. Two of his answers—"Parties of state and citizens of another state" and "Case with state and foreign nation"—were marked wrong. He showed his father a copy of the Constitution proving his answers were correct.

Example 2: During a lightning round, Aangad was asked, "Which amendment ended slavery?" and his answer was marked wrong. Initially, he thought his pronunciation of "Thirteenth" was poor and that his "th" sounded like an "f." However, he was reassured when TV subtitles confirmed he had said the correct answer.

Aftermath

After the round ended, host Mario Lopez interviewed each contestant before announcing the three finalists. Aangad spoke about being proud to share his knowledge of the country's founding principles. He then watched white contestants from Michigan, Washington, and Wyoming announced as the winners.

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and Access Hollywood host Mario Lopez meet with finalists of the Presidential 1776 Award outside the White House on June 10. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Singh's family believed he was robbed and considered taking action. To his mother and uncle, it appeared Aangad was being kept out of the spotlight—and a visit to the Oval Office to meet President Trump—because he was a brown child with a turban. They cared less about receiving a share of the $250,000 in scholarship money than about Aangad being recognized for his hard work.

• The Wyoming winner was a homeschooled girl later touted by the Department of Education for culture-war propaganda.
• The Washington state winner told Trump at the White House that she wanted to attend Hillsdale College, a politically conservative school, to which Trump said he could offer a recommendation.

Lack of Response

Aangad's father, Bhalindar, reached out to the Department of Education twice by email but has yet to receive a response. The department told NOTUS that the competition's questions were "developed, judged, and scored independently by the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation." NOTUS sent the foundation a detailed list of questions but also has not heard back.

Minutes before NOTUS's deadline, the Department of Education responded, stating that the competition's rules specified that judges would "exercise independent good faith judgement [sic]" in selecting finalists and winners, and that by participating, contestants "agree that the decision of the judges is final and binding."

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