By: Kennedi Canova
Drivers ed teachers and students throughout Fremont High are noticing a steadily increasing number of teens waiting to get their licenses until after the eligible age of 16. So what are some of the common factors that have led students to wait?
Mr. Mildon, a driver’s ed teacher at Fremont for 5 years, explains “Some of the biggest reasons I think as to why students wait are procrastination, maybe their parents are strict, parents don’t take them out to drive very often, maybe they don’t have their own cars, but there are a whole bunch of reasons.”
Another large factor that Mr. Mildon thinks greatly contributes to this issue is Fremont’s drivers ed system. “As Fremont’s population keeps growing and we are waiting for the new school to open, a lot of students have been trying to get their licenses. We should be hiring more drivers ed teachers but the district knows that a lot of students will be moving into the new school so using that funding doesn’t make much sense.”
Layna Spicci, a Junior at Fremont who is still in the process of getting her license, says “Scheduling with the school has been my biggest issue. My parents and I have had to work around my super busy schedule and the school’s full drivers ed calendar which has been really hard.”
Mr. Smith, who’s been teaching drivers ed for 14 years at Fremont talks about how Fremont is working toward upgrading the drivers ed system over the summer. “We are trying to get new software that will let kids sign up for range and road online, whenever they want to. This way we aren’t trying to contact kids’ parents or having them call on short notice about getting in the program, which almost never works out because we are so busy. We think it will be a first come, first serve kind of situation which should be much more convenient for students and teachers.”
Layna goes on to explain that even though she is super excited about getting her final appointments scheduled and officially getting her license, she has gotten along just fine without it. She says that she can get everywhere she needs to be, although sometimes it is frustrating, and has only had a few issues because of not having her license.
Similarly, Mr. Smith says that he has noticed that teenagers (and some adults) think the need to drive is slowly diminishing. He goes on to say that while still important, technology has become so prevalent in today’s society that driving isn’t as necessary anymore. From apps for food and grocery delivery, to apps like Uber and Lyft, you don’t really need to leave your house anymore. Similarly, with things like video chatting, phone calls/texting, online games, and more. You don’t even have to leave your house to talk to somebody! These technologies have made it very easy for teenagers to not feel like having your license is mandatory.
