Every once in a while, our state legislators come up with what they believe is a bright idea to require high school seniors to go through a new set of hoops before they can get their diplomas.

They are at it again. Pennsylvania students who can't name the father of our country, the name of our national anthem or the name of the territory the U.S. bought from France in 1803 could find it tougher to get a diploma.House Bill 1858 would require all public schools, including charters and cybercharters, to have students pass the same 100-question test used by immigrants striving to become U.S. citizens. Passing the test would be necessary to obtain a high school diploma or GED equivalency, starting in the 2020-21 school year, if the bill sees the light of day. A minimum score of 60 percent would be needed to pass. Students would be able to take the test as many times as necessary, just so long as they pass it before graduation.House Education Committee Chair Stan Saylor, R-York, said the measure has bipartisan support. "Politicians, in particular, are getting frustrated with people who don't vote and people who don't seem to understand how government works," Saylor said.The Pennsylvania State Education Association, the union representing most teachers in the commonwealth, quickly attacked the idea. "Adding another test is not the answer," Jerry Oleksiak, vice president of the PSEA, told lawmakers during a joint hearing of the House education and Veterans Affairs committees earlier this week. "Good education cannot be reduced to an exit test," he added.The co-sponsors of the legislation were floored that the educational community has come out in opposition to the proposal with such vehemence. State Rep. Bill Kortz, D-Allegheny, said legislators feel strongly that students should know "who the president of the United States is, who George Washington was, how many states there are in this nation." The bill has 47 co-sponsors, and if it passes, Pennsylvania would become the 15th state to adopt civics test requirements since Arizona was the first to do so in 2015.At a news conference in Harrisburg this week, the other co-sponsor, Rep. Karen Boback, R-Luzerne, a retired teacher, said students face a "crisis of knowledge" with respect to their understanding of our country and its founding documents. "It is incumbent on us, as lawmakers, to ensure that our education system provides schools with a mechanism to make certain that Pennsylvania's students are adequately prepared to be active and engaged citizens," Boback said.The bill does have some prominent proponents, such as veterans groups. "If we require immigrants going through the legal process of becoming Americans to pass an examination about citizenship, why would we not make sure our graduates have the same knowledge?" asked VFW State Commander Thomas A. Brown.In addition, Civics Education Initiative, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based nonprofit lobbying group, has been pushing the proposal nationwide. Some of the members of its Board of Advisers include former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Carl Bernstein and former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley. The group hopes to get all states to add the civics test as a graduation requirement by Sept. 17, 2017, the 230th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia.Some of the test's questions are easy, such as why does the American flag have 50 stars, name a state that borders Mexico; and what is the name of the sitting U.S. president.We find the proposal to be another unnecessary test on already over-tested students. Prepping for this test would take away even more precious time from the classroom. Earlier this year, Gov. Tom Wolf initiated a two-year moratorium on requiring high school students to pass the Keystone Exams, exit tests covering algebra, history and literature. Before the controversy that these exams caused, the Keystones were to include a civics component, too, but the fate of this addition is now very much in doubt.Civics, history and social studies are all part of a student's curriculum. Let's hold the teachers responsible for teaching these subjects accountable for results. Let's not layer another test on students and educators. While this proposal might seem well-intentioned in attacking a shocking lack of knowledge among students, it's the wrong way to solve the problem.