Fluff: Drivers Education now vs then

My mom had drivers ed as a class in school, I believe for a semester.

When I had drivers ed, it was at the school, taught by teachers from the school, but it was in the summer. There were 2 sessions. If your bdaybwas a different time of year, you did private- my dh did private as he had a spring bday and couldnt take it the previous summer. It was 3 weeks, 4 hours a day. 2 hours of classroom and then 2 hours of either Range or Road. As soon as you were done, you could get a license.

The schools dont offer it anymore, they have companies that they contract with and the lessons are at the school. Drivers ed has 2 segments, only 6 hours of road experience (and I think they cut that short whenever they could.) After that, it is up to the parents to find time after work, after the students homework, around extracurriculars to let them drive- 50 hours, 10 of which had to be night driving. Second segment was only a day or two.

We didnt let DS drive on the freeway for several months to a year after he got his license. He needed more experience before we were comfortable with that.

the downside to having it be a graded class is that when I was in high school, a girl I know lost out on being valedictorian because the teacher gave her a B in Driver's Ed!

I had one semester of driver's ed in high school my junior year. We had to be eligible for a learner's permit within so many weeks of starting the course so we could do the driving practice. Back then, we had to be 16 to get the permit. The little bit of driving we did with the teacher was probably enough to prepare us to pass the driver's test, but certainly not enough to make us "road-ready" without an adult in the car. The big benefit was the insurance discount you got for having an A or B in the class.

And yet, I did not pass my test until my third try LOL. The first time, the car inspection sticker was almost a year old! Mom had the receipt in the glovebox so she did not get a ticket. The garage that did the inspection just didn't put it on. Mom had the receipt in the glovebox so she did not get a ticket, but they had to "fail me" on the test anyway. The next time I hit a cone while parallel parking. I didn't end up getting my license until i was over 17 LOL. I finally managed to pass it in time to get my first job working in a grocery store.

All three of my girls had private instruction, but again, it was not enough to make them road-ready. It did get us an insurance discount, though, and the private lessons taught them to parallel park, which was a good thing LOL, because DH and I both suck at it. WE took them driving in empty parking lots many times before they did the lessons because we wanted them to be good at the basics and leave the harder stuff like parking to the professionals. The oldest got her license at 16 because she couldn't wait to drive. The twins were in no hurry, though. One got hers at 17 because she wanted a job, but the other had to retest for her permit at 18 because it expired at age 18. She got the license shortly after that because they were able to snag a parking spot in their high school lot so they could get home from after-school activities without waiting for me or DH. They turned 18 in August, and school started after Labor Day, so she must have passed her test pretty quick after renewing her permit.

I took Driver’s Ed in high school. It was an elective. I think it was only half a semester. We had a simulator and on-street driving. There were 4 kids to a car. We were bad because one student was a really terrible driver and one time we were all laughing when the student almost failed to stop at a stop sign. The instructor had to use the brakes on his side. The instructor told us to stop laughing and be quiet. Oops!

One big difference from most people I read about here on this board is that many of us did not get our licenses until senior year. Only two of my friends had their license and a car during senior year. The rest of us had to take the bus. I got my license during the spring semester of senior year (age 17) and I got a car just before going to college.

I think my driver's ed was through school.. I'm not sure how much time I drove with an instructor.  I kinda remember driving with my mom sometimes.  Never with my dad.

All three of my kids took driver's ed privately.  Nothing is offered at school except those drunk driving seminars they do.  Bring a totaled car in and the kids from the drama classes act like they are dead for the day.. something like that.  It's a whole day thing.  

They take one 8 hour day class and 3 two hour driving lessons.  One trip is city driving, one trip is highway driving and one trip is mountain driving.  Six hours total.  Then they log in 40 hours with an adult when they get their permit.  All my kids were licensed around their 16th birthdays.  (Well the last one will be 16 in about a month and she is well on her way to finish up all her lessons and time)

I graduated in 1992 and remember doing drivers ed in the dark hours before school started for the classroom part- I think it was 6 weeks? Then I did lessons with a simulator. I don't think I ever did on the road driving with an instructor. I didn't get my license until I was out of HS because I had friends who drove and my parents didn't mind taking me places. I was able to ride my bike or roller blade to the pool I guarded at in the summers so no real reason to get a license. I also was told that my choice of vehicles was a 1979 ice blue Malibu station wagon. No.thank.you. I ended up inheriting my great grandmothers classic skylark that I LOVED and that motivated me to get my license.

I'm thinking of taking my 12yo (13 in aug) out driving this summer for some lessons. She can't get her permit until she's 15.5 (she'll be a junior in HS at 16) but I'd like her to start learning now. We have lots of empty parking lots around here so hopefully it'll go smoothly. I cringe at handing over the wheel of my beloved Charger to my kid. LOL

I had driver's Ed via mom. Got my permit on my 17th birthday. You could get your DL 10 days later, but my 10th was a weekend, so I had to wait 12 days.

I had to fight with the school for my DS to have his permit which they were holding. They finally gave it to us at 6 months. I took him to an empty parking lot. We went with rules. If either of us got upset, we would stop. Have a snack, drink, relax and try again.

I taught him to drive with a manual transmission. After the parking lot we went a section of town with small blocks and stop signs on every corner. Once we did that we were on the road.
I had a chauffeur for the full six months. He drove all over, around town, the city, down the Garden State Parkway to the shore, any where at all.( It should have been a year, but... They wouldn't give us his permit.)

The only glitch was at that time with the early permit there was no night driving allow and of course, DS wanted to go driving. I insisted going for his first night adventure.

One of my stepdaughters had this same situation because of a PE class. 

I had driver's ed my freshman year which was still at the junior high.  My bff and I ended up paired for the road practice and it occurred mostly over summer.  The instructor was provided by the school and worked year round.  I remember how we laughed hysterically at ourselves after our first outing.  She was better than me but not by much.  We had a lot to learn.

I took Driver's Ed the summer before I turned 16. I already had my learner's permit because the age was 14 in Arkansas in the late 70s. I think it was taught by a state trooper. A trailer with simulators was parked outside the other HS in town and we watched a grisly film that depicted the aftermath of a fatal crash. I remember flies buzzing around bloody bodies. We then went out into traffic with a state trooper instructor with a brake on his side. I remember a girl driving who braked sharply for a bird in the road and the state trooper read her the riot act.

The day I turned 16, I drove my mother's hand me down Chrysler New Yorker boat of a car to school and I was off. This was one of two days when I had the thought, "OMG, I can't believe they're trusting me to do this." The other was taking DS home from the hospital.

I was the first of my friends to turn 16 so I drove people around a lot. My father's favorite story about me is getting calls two weekends in a row about needing rescuing because I and a car full of girls were stuck in the mud somewhere out in the boonies. Since this was before cell phones, I have no idea how I contacted him.

I started taking DS out to an empty parking lot when he was 14 to practice driving (even though not legal in CT). Braking, accelerating, turning, parking. I wanted him to gain some comfort and mastery behind the wheel before he was officially old enough. He took Driver's Ed that we paid for when he was 16 because we wanted the insurance benefits. I started having him drive me around town. He was actually a pretty good, cautious driver. I only remember once grabbing the wheel when we went around a bend and he wasn't steering hard enough.

I’m still angry that I missed graduating with honors, and sitting between my two best friends (last names starting with M, N, and O) at graduation, because I elected to take typing my senior year. I could have had a study hall!

I understand completely.  My mother was insistent on me taking typing and I couldn’t fit it into my schedule without getting rid of art, which was my favorite elective.  I ended up compromising and taking it as a night course at our vocational school.  If I had taken it as a graded class it would have drop my average for sure.  Although I might have decided to put a little more work into it also.😄. I hated that class and still can’t type worth crap and use 2 fingers.  My brother, on the other hand, is a great typer and I am jealous sometimes. 

Oh, that's just ridiculous!!!

I could have taken it as a class in high school in the early 90s, but I found out I wouldn't have had it until the quarter after I turned 16. I didn't want to wait to get my license so I took it during the summer (I assume it was still through the district because the class was at one of the high schools in the district--one that had a driving course painted in the parking lot!)

We chose a private company for our boys' drivers ed. There's a company that does drivers ed that is associated with almost every school in the metro area, but friends told us about a different company that is run by current & former cops. This company also has a driving simulator that none of the other companies in town has. It's pricy and we had to sign DS16 up 6 months in advance of his session because classes sell out fast, but both DS18 had a good experience (even though it was interrupted by Covid) and DS16 learns better from other people. This company has classes in person whereas the school-associated one only does online classes.