Why Don’t Frederick County High Schools Offer Driver’s Education As a Class?
by Symbria Woodley for Walkersville High School Lion’s Pride
What happened to driver’s education in high schools? Years ago many schools offered driver’s ed courses as an elective and students would be able to receive their learner’s permit and driving hours from taking that class.
Years later, most districts canceled driver’s ed classes. The primary reasons are budget cuts, which has made funding unfeasible.
However, should schools be teaching more real life skills such as driving? Considering that driving is a necessary skill in this country, why wouldn’t we want teachers teaching this vital skill?
Many students in Frederick County take driver’s ed at Allegany or Greg’s Driving School. Both schools offer classes that are two weeks long, four days a week with each session being three hours long. The high price point (about $380) is not affordable for many people. Therefore, offering it in school would give more students the opportunity to learn to drive. It would also cost less for the students’ parents considering it would be held during the school day.
The extended length of each class (three hours) may significantly impact a student’s after school schedule, causing conflict with clubs or sports. Therefore, offering a daily 90 minute class in school would be a much more convenient alternative.
“My parents are not rich. We can not just kick out $380. It would be very convenient for this class to be offered at school; that way I wouldn’t have to find a ride to this driver’s ed school every day,” said senior Tatiana Wallace.
According to debate.org, “Schools should be teaming up with driving schools so that everyone gets the chance to drive. Learning to drive is expensive and can be hard to fit around exams or work and high school is the perfect time to learn. It would increase the amount of safe driving. It is vitally important in today’s society to learn the rules and regulations of driving. Almost everybody owns or is going to own a car so it is necessary for everybody to learn about it at an early age so they are brought up into adulthood realising what driving entails. This way there will be less risks.”
However, taking the driving school does not guarantee you a driver’s license. In order to pass, you have to get a certain score on the handwritten test. If you do not pass the test, you have to retake the whole entire class and pay the fee again.
“It would be a huge cost saving for parents. It helps transportation concerns and it would be hard for working parents. Driver’s ed is considered education and that is what the school offers, so therefore we should offer driver’s ed in school,” says registrar of WHS’s counseling office, Deanna Meyer.
In agreement with Meyer, senior Kirsten Shawntez added, “I think schools should have it. It takes stress off of the students and parents. Due to a lot of money and transportation, it will just benefit everyone in this situation.”
Most students have to walk to driver’s ed right after school because the classes usually start at 2:45. With school getting out at 2:15, it is a stroke for a student to walk all the way to the driver’s ed school.
According to secretary Darlene Domalewski, “I believe they should offer it again. We should not have students leave school to take driver’s ed when they could just take it here. It is also unsafe for them to walk there without supervision. Students could also earn credit for taking that class at the school.”
Having the school offer this class would be convenient in many ways and not only benefit students, but parents and staff administration.
