'Are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world?' asked President Ronald Reagan as he left office in 1989. Twenty-seven years earlier, President John F. Kennedy admonished that our history teaches us 'responsibility to those who will come after us and to whom we must pass on that inheritance.' An American who does not know our history, in President Kennedy's words, 'stands uncertain and defenseless before the world.' Because America's colleges and universities have been slow to do their part by making a course on American history and government part of their general education requirements, legislatures from South Carolina to Iowa are intervening. Ohio, with five independent centers at public universities and a mandate in Senate Bill 1 for every student to complete a foundational course on the American story, is setting a positive example for the nation. Nearly 55,000 students each year at Ohio State University alone will be far better prepared for informed citizenship. When Ohio lawmakers passed the requirement that all undergraduates in public universities take a course on 'American civic literacy,' they probably didn't expect that 'American Civic Literacy: Perspectives from Ancient Egypt' would qualify, which is currently pending approval by the Ohio Department of Higher Education. Fortunately, there is another level of review, but it is a wake-up moment. If the course were approved, students at OSU would be able to satisfy the civics requirement with a pastiche of pharaohs and Founders. There is even a new textbook called 'Unpatriotic Civics' explicitly designed to fulfill the requirements of SB 1, but 'without endorsing the patriotic narrative.' As more and more states require a class on American history and government, legislators would be wise to give recently established centers of civic thought the sole authority to teach or oversee the classes and develop new courses. This would help eliminate the unintended consequences that lead universities to authorize off-topic courses like 'Perspectives from Ancient Egypt' to satisfy an American history and government requirement, or for passive-aggressive faculty to meet the letter, but to spurn the purpose of the law. Luckily, the recent introduction of Ohio Senate Bill 461 by state Sen. Jerry Cirino would help alleviate this challenge. SB 461 would convert the civics centers at the University of Toledo and OSU into schools, as well as authorize the Ohio Civics Board to have the sole and exclusive authority to manage American civic literacy courses. Michael Poliakoff is president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni in Washington, D.C. Courtesy of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni Ohio is hardly alone in working to overcome the obstacles to doing civic education well. Another example: After the University of North Carolina required students to take a course on the 'foundations of American democracy,' Elizabeth City State University pasted language from the policy into the otherwise unaltered description of 'HIST 141 – Making of the Modern World.' The first sentence of its course description states, 'This course surveys the political, economic, social, and intellectual history of American, African, European, and Asian cultures and societies from 1500 CE to the present.' In neighboring South Carolina, students at the College of Charleston can satisfy their requirement with 'THTR 212 History of American Theatre.' If given exclusive authority to teach or design the course, civics centers would stay on topic because their sole focus is on the American history and political tradition. They would not be subject to the unhealthy incentives that have led departments to certify courses on theater and (potentially) ancient Egypt, seemingly to boost enrollments in their department. Ohio SB 461 is now poised to add a tidal wave of momentum to a movement the nation needs. Poliakoff, who writes from Washington, D.C., is president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. Have something to say about this topic? * Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication. * Email general questions, comments or corrections on this opinion column to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com.