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Sofia Plesh

Driving Under the Influence of Education


Studies show that academics don't largely contribute to a student's ability to drive. Photo by Sofia Plesh.

Any teenager going through the process of getting a driver's license probably knows what an absolute pain it can be. Not only does one have to pass a drop-dead boring class that seems to be drenched with legal requirements, they have to wait forever to get enrolled in behind-the-wheel training. Of course, it might be worth the whole 30 hours of tears and additional 12 hours of behind-the-wheel training once one becomes able to drive themselves to Chick-Fil-A. Recently, however, a little bird has been fluttering around asking a bold question: “Should the distribution of driver’s licenses be dependent on grades?”

The answer ought to be clear. Whether or not a student can correctly form similes, solve logarithms, or name all the members of the Periodic Table of Elements has no bearing on their understanding of road laws. According to Green Law Firm, no actual connection between good grades and good driving exists. If anything, the need for good grades to get a license only adds another obstacle for students to overcome. It might be possible that fewer students would want to even try to get a license, which can’t really be an option for teenagers who have to get themselves to school or work. Besides, a number of other factors that predict the actual competence of a student driver sit like bobble heads on the proverbial dashboard, nodding away unnoticed. Driving takes patience, quick reactions, knowledge of the road signs, and much more. Transfer Magazine conducted a study to find other factors that tied into driving ability. Interestingly enough, they found that involvement in sports or video games boosted an individual’s skill at driving.

A student’s grades should not correlate to their driving ability. That can be locked in as the final answer to the little bird’s question. If the government wants those two concepts to be related, then they would have to teach subjects in school that actually connect to driving. When out there on the road, don’t be reciting the Preamble to the Constitution. Just maintain focus on the road and save the semi-useless information from civics class for later.




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