High school is a time full of fun and new experiences, most of which involve a car. Many students look forward to getting their license and owning a car. A car allows many students to have the freedom they have always wanted, no longer having to depend on their parents or others to take them places. With a driver’s license, they can now travel where they want in their own car without having to bother anyone else for a ride.
For many it is a struggle to pay for the driver training class or to fit it into their busy schedule, that may involve sports, a job, or the many extracurricular programs that Loy Norrix has to offer. Students also have basic tasks, such as studying or homework. There was once a time when teenagers did not have to worry about trying to fit driver training into their busy schedule. They could just take the course at school. Loy Norrix should bring drivers training back to the classrooms as an elective. This would help many students get their license without difficulty as well as help the school.
“It’s hard to go to work, have track practice and also focus on getting my license,” said senior Madisyn Caldwell. “You can only miss so many of the [driver training] classes so if it was during the school day, it would be easy to make all the classes and probably would help the school improve attendance.”
More students having a car and their license would be a benefit to the school in many ways. It would help with school bus transportation, as there would be more people driving instead of riding the bus. This makes more seats available so students who don’t drive have room to breathe and aren’t squished together. It also would help those who don’t have a school bus and have to ride the city bus or get dropped off by an adult, have an easier way to school that doesn’t depend on anyone else. Lastly, it would help with school spirit. Students would be able to come and support more after-school events like football games, swim meets, volleyball games, musicals, and concerts if they had a way there.
“Right now a lot of kids can’t afford it,” said English teacher, Sally Wagenaar. “It’s 350 bucks plus then another $50 for segment two, so we have a lot of kids that don’t have the money to take it.”
For many high schools, driver training used to be a class students could take during the school day and not have to worry about payment or time management. According to driver training teacher Sally Wagenaar, many schools removed the program due to it being too expensive for the school to keep running.
If we could have a driver’s program that would help students pay for part of the training as an incentive to graduate, that would be a big help both for students and improving the school.
“I would love to see it as an incentive. We’re trying to get kids to graduate and go to college. I think if we say make it through your junior year and we’ll pay for half of the class, that would help push students to graduate,” said Wagenaar.