I got my driver’s license back in 1998, which might not seem like ancient history, but it’s been two decades now. When I say “20 years of driving,” it probably sounds like I just stepped off the Mayflower. However, the landscape of driver’s education has shifted dramatically since my high school days.
Back then, my school offered a driver’s education program, allowing me to earn credits while sitting through Coach Sam’s (our mustachioed track coach) lengthy and somewhat awkward lectures on braking techniques and the dangers teen drivers face. I woke up at 6 a.m. for weeks just to sit in a car simulator that resembled a coffee table with a wheel, watching a film from the 70s about when to signal and turn. I passed the test, snagged my license, and hit the road alongside my peers—all at no cost to me. Thankfully, because my family was struggling financially after my parents’ divorce, I could never have afforded driver’s education otherwise.
Fast forward to today, and many states are cutting back or eliminating publicly funded driver’s education, leaving teens like my 16-year-old self grappling with the financial burden. According to Car’s Direct, driving school packages now run between $200 and $800. For a low-income family focused on paying rent, $800 might as well be the price of a luxury car.
In my first job as a counselor for a federal program aimed at helping low-income college students, I noticed something peculiar: most of the students I worked with lacked a driver’s license, despite being in college. Curious, I asked one student why he hadn’t gotten his license. He explained that he couldn’t afford driver’s education; he lived in a rural area and his earnings from picking fruit with his family went straight to necessities like rent and food. Even if he had a license, insurance was out of reach.
This challenge became even more pressing when students received excellent internship offers 20 or 30 miles away but couldn’t take them due to transportation issues. A study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that just over half of teens are licensed by age 18, with many delaying due to financial constraints. Strikingly, while 67 percent of white teens managed to obtain their licenses by 18, only 37 percent of Black teens and 29 percent of Hispanic teens did the same. Furthermore, 60 percent of teens from households earning over $60,000 were licensed within a year of eligibility, compared to just 16 percent from families making less than $20,000.
Reading these statistics makes me reflect on my own upbringing in a farming community in central Utah. Like the student I once mentored, I would have missed countless opportunities—jobs, college, you name it—if it weren’t for the free driver’s education program.
As Pacific Standard stated, “The lack of a driver’s license can exacerbate existing inequities faced by low-income teens and teens of color.” The move away from publicly funded driver’s education is not just an inconvenience; it’s a mechanism that widens the gap between the privileged and the underprivileged, perpetuating a cycle that desperately needs to shift.
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In summary, the evolution of driver’s education has increasingly excluded low-income and minority teens, limiting their opportunities and perpetuating social inequities. As we navigate this changing landscape, it is crucial to advocate for accessible education programs that can help bridge this widening gap.
Keyphrase: driver’s education inequality
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