Would you rather learn how to drive in school or out of school? Learning how to drive should be part of the in-school learning process at Walpole High School. With many students extremely busy with sports and homework, students barely have any time in their tightly packed schedules for a drivers’ education course after school. The joy of learning how to operate a vehicle is overtaken with the despair of being too busy with school to be able to do it.
Bill Rehill’s Driving School currently offers several drivers’ ed classes during the school year every Monday and Wednesday from 7pm to 9pm. Even though these classes are in the evening, students have sports and other activities right after school, so the nighttime is needed for homework. And these days, taking two hours off of homework time twice a week is very challenging for students. Classes are also offered during certain vacation weeks throughout the school year, but cramming so much information into a week makes the classes much longer. Who wants to spend their vacation in a classroom for 6 1/2 hours a day?
The drivers’ ed class is a 30 hour, Massachusetts RMV prescribed course. If it were a class to be taken during school hours, it would take at most 45 school days to complete the full drivers’ ed course. Each term at WHS is 45 days, so this could be a one semester elective, making the second half of the semester a study hall for the students. This would make complete sense because another requirement for aspiring drivers is 12 hours of behind-the-wheel instruction that need to be done after school. Giving a study hall to help students get their homework done will create extra time for students after school, even if they are participating in sports and other after school activities. Since the 12 driving hours have to be done after school, the study hall would help the process along immensely.
On the other hand, wouldn’t making driving hours during school be safer than when school is out? During school hours, no students are driving around in the parking lot and neither are teachers. However, the WHS parking lot after school is one of the busiest places in town. Many teachers have to direct the traffic caused by the buses, parents picking up their kids, and newly licensed student drivers. This does not stop Bill Rehill’s Driving School though; the little silver Honda Civic still awaits the student after school for a driving hour. Each driving hour that begins at Walpole High consists of the student driver practicing their driving skills by slowly maneuvering and making their way around the crowded parking lot, and then they go out to the roads.
The problem with after school driving hours is that they may disrupt sports and other after school activities. Student drivers are able to schedule their 12 driving hours to fit their own schedules, but it would be so much easier for many students if they were offered during the school day. The 70 minute class at Walpole High would be the perfect opportunity for students to get driving hours done–students would be able to do one driving hour per class.
Many students at Walpole High School agree with the concept of making drivers’ ed an in-school class. Although many students are eager to get behind the wheel, WHS also has so many dedicated athletes who are dedicated to attending every practice and game. Drivers’ ed as a course would benefit both students and Walpole High School. Bill Rehill’s Driving School should make drivers’ ed a course at WHS, and also make during-school driving hours an option for students at Walpole High.
