<p>One point about DL that the article entirely missed is that Driver’s Ed used to be taught in school and now, at least here in Texas, parents must employ a private company after school hours. Of course that’s going to lower the percentage of kids with DL.</p>
<p>The kid next door to me landed a great summer job that was actually relevant to his career plans.</p>
<p>Only problem - it was about a 30-40 minute drive away (depending on traffic), and he had never bothered to get his driver’s license.</p>
<p>Solution? His mother made the round trip twice a day to drive him to the job. Why should he put out any effort to learn to drive when mommy will chauffeur him everywhere he wants to go?</p>
<p>We insisted our kids get their licenses more for our convenience than theirs. Having to be at school every day at 3:30 or 4:00 to drive them home after band or soccer practice got to be logistically impossible.</p>
<p>Although, since we make them pay their own insurance, they both had to get jobs. Which they use their licenses to drive to. Huh. Vicious circle. :D</p>
<p>There is no public transportation where I live. And heck if I’m going to be driving them to their friends’ houses on the weekends. If they wanted a social life they needed the license.</p>
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I didn’t take Driver’s Ed through the school back in the day, I had no room in my schedule. So I went at night to a private company, and there were lots of kids who did. I don’t know if this is such a big factor.</p>
<p>My mom didn’t have a DL until she was pregnant with her third child. It’s only been one generatio, really, that thought it was so vital. My kids don’t have cars, though they do have licenses. The article doesn’t even go into insurance, which my S would have to pay thousands of dollars a year for, if he were to get a car. Both my son and daughter are adept at public transportation, something my mother’s generation knew a lot more about, too.</p>
<p>But as I said, if kids don’t act exactly like us, their must be something wrong with them, right?</p>
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<p>I’m not so sure this isn’t a factor in some areas. My drivers ed cost $500, for some families that is certainly prohibitive. And heaven forbid you need any extra lessons, those cost a fortune.</p>
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<p>Couldn’t they get to and from school by walking or bicycling? Seems that these days, parents won’t let their kids walk to school even a trivial distance, in contrast to how far kids walked to school a generation ago.</p>
<p>In our state you cannot get a highschool diploma unless you’ve passed Driver’s Ed, or the equivalent in a private class. This can be problematic for some. As one poster noted there simply isn’t time in the high achiever pool for the kids to put that in their schedule. Heck some of them aren’t even taking lunch. They need one more AP… </p>
<p>So, yeah… I can’t imagine how many kids who CAN graduate high school without a diploma are bothering with it, at all, now. Gas prices are so high, I doubt the average 16 year old can afford to drive much, anyway. </p>
<p>I don’t think it’s the best measure.</p>
<p>I thought the article was offensive (and stupid). If the percentage of people age 18 that do not have drivers licenses is in fact significantly lower now than 30 years ago there are many possible explanations besides the kids are too lazy. Many states have instituted graduated licenses and other restrictions that might make it harder to get a license now than it was 30 years ago. The story was heavy on anecdotes and light on data. I could tell you about my kid (he has his drivers license!) but it would look like bragging.</p>
<p>NJres, LOL.</p>
<p>I have one in high school, (non-academic type), and I could brag about her, too.</p>
<p>The academic adult, however, DL. Total failure. :D</p>
<p>I never took drivers Ed however my sister did. She got her license through there too. We booth stated working at fourteen and bought it own cars at sixteen. Didn’t have to be added to insurance till we passed our tests but then we paid that on own own too. It would be much more expensive to drive now as a teenager then when I was one since gas is more… But I also made 4.75 an hour back when and minimum wage is almost twice that now.</p>
<p>Personally I think learning to drive is a life skill that everyone should have. It is right up there with swimming IMO.</p>
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Yeah, and it was uphill both ways.</p>
<p>It’s several miles from the high school to our house, and is pretty hilly. After a several-hour soccer practice it would be tough to walk or bike it, having to carry multiple backpacks. And in the winter it is a pretty nasty walk - the sidewalks are often poorly plowed or not plowed at all, and walking in the street is treacherous, even dangerous. There are no shoulders on the roads.</p>
<p>Our district as well as apparently many others dropped drivers ed. So to get a license under age 18, you employ the private company, which I found a royal pain, driving one D there 2 nights a week, during a little window of no sports, no play rehearsal. I felt it took away from homework time. </p>
<p>However, her twin sister, who was abroad that year, never did take drivers ed, and we practiced in summers home from college. I think the abroad twin really missed out, both on the amount of year round practice, and the formal driving education. Those scary movies do stick with them! But I can’t understand how those without the $300+ for drivers ed get under 18 licenses. </p>
<p>A number of my girls friends haven’t learned to drive-and they’re now post college, or just graduating. We have a bike oriented community, and they bike everywhere, walk downtown when home. Fine for now, but not for a lifetime. </p>
<p>In my generation, a drivers license meant freedom, something to dream about, plan for. Now freedom comes with plane tickets or electronic media. Or what? Or perhaps freedom is less a hot commodity?</p>
<p>I think car dependency is lunacy, myself. I have one and hardly ever use it since I live in a place where I can walk to all the shops and work is two blocks away. We need to consider how wonderful that would be to design communities that work that way and change people’s lives for the better: More time at home and less on the road. To me that is freedom. So is planting your own vegetables.</p>
<p>I actually know a lot of people my age (early 20s) who don’t have licenses. </p>
<p>Honestly, many of them couldn’t afford driver’s ed. It’s well over $400 for teen drivers when all is said and done (I don’t know how much it is for adult education). I don’t know of any school districts in Michigan who offer drivers ed for free (though I’m sure they exist). Many students can’t get jobs because there’s virtually no public transportation here in Michigan outside of college towns. And then they go off to college where they don’t have anyone around to drive them (so they can practice).</p>
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<p>Can someone please tel me what the name of a sketch comedy show has to do with anything? My mother has been calling me “random” my whole life so I really don’t think it’s a new term that is greatly influencing my generation…</p>
<p>And here’s to California’s rapid rail system, on its way…with a quote from Mark Twain. Here’s to not having to have a driving license. What a concept!</p>
<p>“It was a splendid population (the gold rushers)–for all the slow, sleepy, sluggish-brained sloths stayed at home–you never find that sort of people among pioneers–you cannot build pioneers out of that sort of material. It was that population that gave to California a name for getting up astounding enterprises and rushing them through with a magnificent dash and daring and a recklessness of cost or consequences, which she bears unto this day–and when she projects a new surprise, the grave world smiles as usual and says “Well, that is California all over.””</p>
<p>Mark Twain
Roughing It
1871</p>
<p>I agree the article makes assumptions about why some young adults don’t have dl.</p>
<p>My oldest was eager to get his license day he turned 16 and worked to save to buy his own car shortly thereafter. my middle felt she didn’t really need to drive right away, recognized some anxiousness with driving, partly due to ADD, at 20 she still only has the permit. My youngest is chafing at the bit at 15. I don’t see what he observes in terms of the sloth behavior. and as other posters have mentioned, what is he basing his observations on? I do agree we drive our kids, when they’re still kids, everywhere in contrast to our parents. If I wanted to go to a friend’s I grabbed my bike or walked. As a culture we are different, not sure it’s on the kids totally. My 15 yr old got a job and planned to ride his bike on the days I am still at work, this made me uncomfortable, with me an hour away, and him on a bike. isn’t that weird, I surely rode my bike everywhere but then my mom was home, if something happened. I know better on some level, but that’s the emotion that came up for me. have to work on that and let him ride himself</p>