What Do You Think About Driver Education, Especially In Illinois?

Q: In Illinois, the driver's ed class was a one-semester class and you had to take it or you couldn't graduate or receive a license. As anyone who lives there can tell you it doesn't help much. But looking at California now compared to just a bit ago, the difference is remarkable. Up until 1992 or so, there was driver's ed in high school which included a day of driving a week. A good number of people took that rather than spend several hundred dollars (which parents wouldn't otherwise cough up) for a weekend class. Now driver's ed is classroom only, so they have to pay up regardless. Given this, why would they bother with the class?

A:When I took it we had to drive one day a week. The law required a certain minimum number of hours of on-the-road instruction accompanied by a certain number of hours of classroom instruction. Of course, that was in '83, so things may well have changed. Illinois is, when it comes to education, rather strange among the states - it is the only one I am aware of with citizenship requirements for entering and leaving High School. The state college and university systems also have citizenship requirements for those that did not satisfy them in high school. They may well have held on to more traditional driver's ed for the same reasons they hang onto the citizenship requirements.

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