Recent Posts
- Are You Ready for Spirit Week 2024?!?! BY ISABELLA CAROLOW
- Extra Schoolwork During Advisory??? Perspectives from Students and Teachers on SAT Prep BY SAMUEL HIERS
- Embracing Perspective: Finding Beauty in the Ordinary and Extraordinary BY SAMANTHA MIGNANELLI
- The Taylor Swift “Thing” BY KEELY SULLIVAN
- CHS Renovations BY HAZEL DUROSS
Recent Comments
- Maureen Couture on Quality Education Comes in Many Forms BY Justin Curran
- Gwen Schumacher on Quality Education Comes in Many Forms BY Justin Curran
- chakal on How to Prepare for Final Exams BY Mrs. Murgida (from CHS Guidance)
- MAJ P. on The Healthy Benefits of Music that is Surely “Pop” for the Soul! BY Samuel Hiers
- MAJ P. on Planning for a Life in the U.S. Military BY Matthew Capwell
Archives
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- June 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- May 2021
- March 2021
- May 2020
- February 2020
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- December 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- May 2017
- March 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- November 2015
- October 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- November 2014
- October 2014
Driven Insane!!! Student Recollections of Driver’s Ed and How to Approach the Course Positively and Prepared
Driver’s Ed is a complex and interesting subject to many when preparing for the road that lies ahead, and a 30 hour class isn’t anything to be taken with a grain of salt. Sign up as soon as you can and at the right time, get the sleep and study time that you need, take the course seriously, expect the unexpected, and approach your time learning about the rules of the road positively in order to ace your permit test. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself cruisin’ down the streets and highways in no time!
BY SAMUEL HIERS
One thing that most of us all look at with anticipation as we embark upon our high school journeys is finally receiving that coveted thing called a driver’s license. It can be assured that a lot of you will (or many of you already have) look towards getting behind the wheel of your first car with great excitement and glee. Most have waited and waited until the day they turn sixteen to have the keys handed over to them and to embark upon a joyous adventure, cruising down I-95 at 70 miles per hour with a newfound sense of independence. It is a pivotal moment in all of our lives.
However, what if you were told that you had to go through an agonizing extra class known as Driver’s Ed for over 30 hours and have to be supervised by your muckraking parents for at least 50 hours before finally making that I-95 road trip yourself? You certainly would feel a newfound sense of boredom instead and feel that it is more of a chore to achieve exactly what you want.
And Driver’s Ed? Extra school, you ask? As one anonymous student put it, “I fell asleep for almost half of that uneventful class”. But the bottom line is that Driver’s Ed is a trial of responsibility for all of us that in the end will open up new opportunities for us in the long, winding highway of life – and ultimately the door of the driver’s seat as well. There are many great and positive ways to approach your Driver’s Ed class, and some of our fellow CHS students had advice to share, too!
Usually, the first step is to choose exactly where you want to take the course, usually at a CCRI campus or a high school somewhere in Rhode Island. You can mostly sign up online if taking the class at CCRI, which is the most accessible for many students, but the problem is that there are many sites across Rhode Island that you could get put in. As for Junior Isabella St. Angelo, she not only could find a spot for the course only at the CCRI campus in Lincoln, but had to cram in the hours needed for her course all in one week as well! “I made the unwise and unrecommended decision to use February break to take Driver’s Ed, even when I was not in school,” St. Angelo stated, “and for seven hours per day.”
Location and time matter and are key to being successful in the class. St. Angelo soon realized the impacts of the time and place chosen on her performance and health. “I was drowsy in class all the time and was losing sleep by the night throughout that week”, she regretted, “and because I crammed it, I could not retain the information that I needed to be successful in class.”
Getting plenty of sleep and studying hard are important for a positive approach to completing Driver’s Ed and applying the information you learn when actually driving.
In Junior Christiana Votta’s words, she felt that it was not a cakewalk in terms of academics. “Although I was the quiet kid there, I felt that you really had to concentrate on listening and reviewing all the time. Studying was a necessity”, Votta remarked. Despite the fact that she took Driver’s Ed at a more accessible location at West Warwick High School and for three hours per day during school, the class was not something to be taken lightly. As a warning for the average and even skilled students: in order to get your permit, Driver’s Ed is not your average “101” course, and proving you have the skill to drive requires effort and responsibility. You also have no idea who you will end up with in your classes, as districts can mix in different locations. Further impeding Votta’s success was something unusual: “I had class with my ex-boyfriend!”
Unlike the unfortunate circumstances of Isabella and Christiana, some students found that Driver’s Ed was completely no problem – or thought they could even outsmart the teachers! Sometimes, students can naturally get through classes or prepare very well. Take Junior Aiden Felice’s experiences, for example, who took his classes at an AAA office in Cranston: “Most of the information was just a breeze, or it was stuff that I already knew well”. There was even an instance where Felice thought his teacher got some information wrong about drunk driving, had this been either a misconception or a misunderstanding. “We were talking about drunk driving, and she told us that when a police officer requests that you take a breathalyzer test, you are required to comply under threat of getting your license or permit revoked”. Although this is true and stated by law, Felice took it to another dimension: “Problem is, police officers need probable cause to issue the test, or else it would necessarily be illegal”. Whether you choose to believe the things you learn in Driver’s Ed or not, just be sure to approach lessons seriously, positively, and help extend your knowledge and prepare yourself for the road while doing so!
To conclude, Driver’s Ed is a complex and interesting subject to many when preparing for the road that lies ahead, and a 30 hour class isn’t anything to be taken with a grain of salt. Sign up as soon as you can and at the right time, get the sleep and study time that you need, take the course seriously, expect the unexpected, and approach your time learning about the rules of the road positively in order to ace your permit test. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself cruisin’ down the streets and highways in no time!