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As appeared in today's Albuquerque Journal, a RR state senator wants to tie suspension of driving privileges to poor school attendance.
While this idea seems like a great solution to the problem 30 years ago, I'm concerned that today's ditchers are, like their A-student cohorts, far less enamored with driving and car ownership than today's electorate was at their age.
Would be very concerned that a sizable percentage of the kids affected by such a tie-in would call society's bluff, and even in some cases, leverage the state's idea to further shirk adult responsibilities (why look for a job (or even show up to class on time) when you aren't allowed to drive?)
Still, seems to me that this is close to a good idea. Anyone got any thoughts on how this idea would work or could work better?
I think the best solution would be making school more relevant to a larger cohort of people while also creating an alternative option, like a trade school or specialized certificate programs that kids can get into instead of doing their junior and senior year. I think we need to acknowledge that school is not for everyone and the education system should reflect that.
As for driving privileges, it could help some, but as Zoidberg already stated, it might just exacerbate the problem for others.
As for making that idea work or work better, I don't know... It seems more punitive than helpful and at that age it might just make young people more resentful. The more I think about it, the more it seems a bad idea. Resources could be better spent helping the kids who do well and enjoy school or are willing to work to improve themselves through the school system. I do think the problem lies in the fact that some people truly aren't motivated by school or just don't wish to be a part of it, and revoking their driving privileges may not always be the motivation for them.
I think this would be a very effective way of keeping marginal students away from school. Many of these kids need a car to get to work as well as school and taking away their licenses would just make the scofflaws for no good reason.
I think there should be a major redevelopment of Jr./Sr. trade skills education. Modern automobiles, for instance, are vastly more difficult to diagnose so a real trade education might do a kid more good than just expecting them to go off to college. I think there will be a lot more opportunity for skilled tradesman, particularly medical tradesmen, in the future than college graduates.
A pretty poor education system especially for kids who dont want to go to college and would probably fair better in life if they could do a trade instead but some lawmaker things its a better idea to punish than try and fix the system ? That sounds smart.
Just for those who might find this interesting, I am in the Allied Healthcare field, I'm a Respiratory Therapist. When I got laid off from The Boeing Company in May of 2003, I researched the job field fairly well. I was in my early 40's then and retiring was way out of the question. I decided to get re-trained in the Healthcare field after reading that there was at that time a 50% increase in Nurses required and a 45% increase in Respiratory Therapists required.
I took the Trade Act to get re-trained and get my Associate's Degree in Respiratory Therapy. The Federal Guv-Mint paid for all of my tuition and books and I needed to get and maintain a 2.0 GPA in order to keep drawing State of Washington Unemployment Insurance while I was going to school. At that time (May 2003) my U.I. weekly check figured out ta be $456 a week!
In order ta make this plan work, we needed to dump our $976 a month mortgage payment on our house in Burlington, WA. I had a 45-mile commute south to Boeing's Everett plant ta get ta work and back. So we enlisted a great real estate agent from Mount Vernon, WA, and she told us that in the hot market of that time she would have our house sold in 3 weeks! She did it, too!
We sold or gave away most of our furniture and things to friends, neighbors and Skagit County residents who came to our garage sale. We bought a 4X8' uitility trailer and had Jerry Smith Kia of Burlington install a hitch to our '01 Kia Sportage 4X4. I got all of the paperwork started with Boeing, the Federal Guv-Mint and anyone else in the educational system in Missouri involved in this plan.
I put in our change-of-address with the Post Office. We loaded up and left Burlington, WA, for the little town of Rolla, MO, where my small college was for teaching me Respiratory Therapy. Unfortunately, we had to pull my wife out of college courses she was taking at Skagit Community College in Culinary Arts. She was pert-near getting all A's, too. She later got jobs as a Prep Cook and Cook in our journey ahead, so that's good, I just feel kind of bad that we had ta do that. I just needed ta get re-trained and stick to the plan ahead.
It ended up working out. I graduated with my Associate's Degree in Respiratory Therapy in May of 2005. My first job in the field came 25 days later in Pierre, SD, working for the medium-sized hospital in that Capital city of South Dakota. So the adventure began as a Respiratory Therapist. Now I'm still in the field, only I'm a Respiratory Therapist and a Sleep Tech. for Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo, NM. I am busy and happy as a Certified Respiratory Therapist. I'd like ta work another 8 years and then retire and draw my pension benefits from The Boeing Company (20 years exp.) and Social Security benefits (if they're still there in 2022, that is).
My point is, kids can make this thing work still. It's not impossible, it's not too late. They don't have ta go to the University of Washington or Stanford University, either. Or any 4-year University. They can go to a small college or a community college. They can go to mechanic's vo-tech school or motorcycle maintenance or repair vo-tech school. Start while in high school if their school district offers a program for high-school kids. Be persistent. Don't give up! Look for aid from Uncle Sam and the state you live in.
Last edited by elkotronics; 12-30-2013 at 09:01 AM..
A television show called "Chasing Classic Cars" did a special on a school in ? that taught automotive repair as well as basic metal work and painting for the antique and custom car market. The old metal masters and classic mechanics are all retiring or are getting too old to keep working. The same would apply to all of the mechanical and electrical trades.
To get the instruction a student will probably need a car so taking away a kid's license is simply short sighted.
FWIW - When I was young I could weld, machine, bend and blacksmith steel and most other metals using machine tools that were not connected to a computer of any kind. I am considering taking a few adult classes just to refresh my skills. Now that I have a retirement income I might find a part time job in this area.
GregW - you should consider that. I am starting (for whatever reason) to really like 60's VW Bugs. I have been told some of the things a person needs ta do to maintain those older German-built cars and none of it seems all that imposing. One of the things about those old Bugs that is kind of tough for me, though, is they don't have A/C's. I would need to work on that problem if I bought one. I have my eye on one here in Alamogordo, NM, that is always sitting in a used car lot but has no "For Sale" sign and/or price on it. Looks like a '67, has white paint with light metallic purple flames coming back from the round nose of the car. Looks great!
But I think you are right on the idea of taking away a kid's driver's license being a bad idea for their training programs and their overall vo-tech training. Not a good idea.
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