Chamber critique is misguided
When officials of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce wrote to our legislative delegation about the transgender bathroom bill, they probably thought this was just another instance of their practice of advising lawmakers on any bill, controversial or not.
They did not reckon with state Rep. Gerald McCormick and state Sens. Bo Watson and Todd Gardenhire, those valiant defenders of legislative turf. Afflicted by self-importance and political sensitivity, they upbraided the Chamber officials for their presumptuousness. Thus their gall, or "[B]razen boldness coupled with impudent assurance and insolence."
McCormick and his two colleagues lashed the Chamber for not speaking out about the recent shootings in Chattanooga. That was such a fatuous accusation, it's amazing that McCormick didn't grasp the irony.
You'd think that at least one of the three could have foreseen the irony of condemning the Chamber on this issue. After all, they are majority members of the state legislature's eager support of more proposals to allow more people to carry more guns in more locations.
Before McCormick, Watson and Gardenhire presume to lecture the Chamber on its alleged silence about gunplay in the city, honesty should compel them to examine their own indirect role in the carnage.
Michael Loftin
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Rethink education for all students
You provided an interesting juxtaposition of commentaries about education last Thursday. Noah Smith maintains that students need extended one-on-one mentoring. Roger Smith suggests that students don't need algebra to have a "lifetime of economic sustenance and work fulfillment."
Few manual skills provide what Roger thinks. They barely provide a living wage, are often physically demanding and difficult to do after middle age, and susceptible to automation. They are great places to start but not places to end up.
We must rethink education as a true lifelong endeavor, not just "something you do until you get a job." Schools and universities should be more like clubs where all learners can continuously upgrade their skills.
Noah is three-quarters of the way there: We all need intensive tutoring at various stages in our lifelong education.
A good start on educational innovation would be to create such a "learning club" that could tap the school system's resources. Traditional students could tap the mentors, as could bricklayers, cosmetologists and culinary artists (cooks) who want to do better and make more.
Now that's an "out of the box" idea!
Greg Laudeman, East Ridge
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Lawmakers focused on wrong problem
To our state legislators Gerald McCormick, Bo Watson and Todd Gardenhire who say the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce is focused on the wrong problem if it is concerned about the transgender bill rather than the violence going on in Chattanooga: Even if that's true, you are doing the same.
David Jones