O-R should print meaningful information
I read the Observer-Reporter editorial in the July 14 edition. I am in agreement with the premise that many Americans are lacking in their knowledge of civics and history. To claim that “experts blame emphasis on STEM subjects and state standards as part of the problem” is disingenuous. Our schools need to be teaching more STEM courses so that jobs requiring engineering, technical and math skills can be filled by U.S.-born students. We should not need to rely on a foreign workforce to fill these jobs.
Furthermore, it is clear that the Observer-Reporter itself is partly responsible for the lack of civics knowledge. The O-R wastes too much ink and paper on printing meaningless local stories or regurgitating trivial news written by outside sources, mainly the Associated Press. Do we really need to know that Punxsutawney Phil and wife are parents of two babies? Is it necessary to print a whole column of all the Wimbledon champions since 1960?
If the O-R wants to impart civics knowledge on its readers it should initiate a section devoted to the daily voting records of all the legislators in the U.S. Congress and the Pennsylvania Legislature. For example, it would be useful to know that U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler voted against the expelling of Rep. George Santos from Congress, only one of two Pennsylvania Republicans who voted “nay.” This information can be found at www.Congress.gov. However, readers should be able to have congressional votes summarized for them daily. We should not have to scroll through federal records ad nauseum.
I’m hoping to see fewer sports statistics, trivial AP articles, and inane social commentaries in our O-R paper. If the O-R editorial Staff wants to improve civics and history knowledge, start by improving the newspaper’s quality. Print meaningful information.
Ray Doperak
Peters