# Chicago Schools Pull Dumbest All-Time Stunt. The Blind & DRIVER'S ED! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 12, 2006, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043 "2006-03-12T14:29:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/1 "2006-03-12T14:29:54Z")
Chicago city schools require blind students to take Driver’s Ed in HS. [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0603100180mar10,1,7954861.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0603100180mar10,1,7954861.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true) > [@](#): > > Ramirez is blind. She knows she’s never going to drive. She can think of a lot of things she’d rather be studying than rules of the road, but she didn’t have a choice. > > Chicago Public Schools requires all sophomores to take the class and pass a written road-rules exam–a graduation requirement that affects about 30 blind and visually impaired students in specialized programs at Curie and Payton College Preparatory High. > [@](#): > > “It defies logic to require blind students to take this course … and waste their academic time,” said Meta Minton, spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education. > [@](#): > > By law, any parent can ask for a change in a disabled student’s individualized education plan, or IEP, which could exempt a student from driver’s education as a graduation requirement. But this option is rarely, if ever, outlined to blind students in Chicago, **who are told that they have to take the class if they want to graduate, students and teachers said**.~~bolding by **Bosda** > [@](#): > > One teacher argued that the lessons aren’t a waste of time. > > “I don’t think you can ever get enough traffic safety … and we do a lot on how to make good decisions,” said Brent Johnston, a Hinsdale South High School teacher and a chairman of the Illinois High School/College Driver’s Education Association Of all the GOD DAMN, STUPID, _POINTLESS_ FUCKING STUPIDITY… **AAARRRRRGGGGHH!** These kids have enough on their plate, eductionally. And emotionally, too! What lazy fuckass dipshit set _these_ wheels in motion? Why wasn’t it corrected 10 years ago? And why, since the Straight Dope is _based_ in Chicago, & an appreciable # of Dopers live in or near there, has nobody mention an article like this before? ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/2 "2006-03-12T14:44:33Z")
I liked the guy quoted in the last paragraph: > [@Brent Johnson](#): > > “I don’t think you can ever get enough traffic safety … and we do a lot on how to make good decisions,” said Brent Johnston, a Hinsdale South High School teacher and a chairman of the Illinois High School/College Driver’s Education Association. “Still, this shouldn’t be the school’s decision; it should be mom and dad’s decision. A little common sense would go a long way.” If the school or district wants to develop and offer a special course in traffic safety for the visually-impaired, then they should do that. But to require these kids to take a course they’ll never use on the off chance they’ll pick up something useful is stupid and a waste of everyone’s time. Robin ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/3 "2006-03-12T15:08:01Z")
There are none so blind as those who will not see ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/4 "2006-03-12T15:40:07Z")
You know, I just drove through Chicago last Thursday via Dan Ryan expressway. Having some of those kids on the roads would probably be something of an improvement. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/5 "2006-03-12T17:10:03Z")
But if we start allowing exceptions like this, where will it end? Why should kids who are never going to become scientists be forced to take science? Why should kids who are never going to go to England be forced to take English? ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/6 "2006-03-12T17:26:22Z")
Blind could still be back-seat drivers. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/7 "2006-03-12T17:31:21Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > But if we start allowing exceptions like this, where will it end? Why should kids who are never going to become scientists be forced to take science? Why should kids who are never going to go to England be forced to take English? Yes because forcing someone to take classes for something that is physically impossible for then to ever do is the exact same thing as forcing someone to take classes for something they may never chose to do. I hope you were kidding with that above statement. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/8 "2006-03-12T18:02:59Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > Yes because forcing someone to take classes for something that is physically impossible for then to ever do is the exact same thing as forcing someone to take classes for something they may never chose to do. I hope you were kidding with that above statement. Reread his last sentence: how can you possibly wonder whether that was a joke? I could understand if, given the general thrust of mainstreaming students with a disability, this turned out to be a silly hiccup in the system, one which everyone agreed was foolish and needed to be fixed. That’s just how bureaucracy works. But for there to be people acting as if it’s a **good** thing? Foolish, foolish, foolish. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![LucyInDisguise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucyindisguise/32/18064_2.png) [@LucyInDisguise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LucyInDisguise)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/9 "2006-03-12T21:09:14Z")
Could be worse. Could require that those who score high must take the _Commercial Driving Course_ in their senior year … 😃 Oh, I’m sorry - some of those seem to have graduated and landed jobs already! :eek: Lucy ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/10 "2006-03-12T21:36:10Z")
> [@Scruloose](#): > > You know, I just drove through Chicago last Thursday via Dan Ryan expressway. Having some of those kids on the roads would probably be something of an improvement. Wait until [Spring](http://www.danryanexpressway.com/) when they close half of the lanes for construction. **Bosada** , is this a Chicago requirement or an Illinois requirement? I thought Illinois required all students to take Driver’s Ed (the classroom, non-driving part) in their sophomore year. Sounds like CPS just needs to make it more clear that kids can get exempted. Also, I think your OP is mis-titled. As dumb as this is, I have a suspicion that it is not the all-time dumbest stunt pulled by CPS… ---
**Author:** ![rkts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@rkts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rkts)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/11 "2006-03-12T21:40:53Z")
You mean an American public school is requiring kids to learn something that _won’t benefit them in any way_?! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/12 "2006-03-12T22:24:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*a graduation requirement that affects about 30 blind and \*\*visually impaired \*\* students \* Bolding mine.The reason for the rule is that visually impaired people **are** allowed to get driver’s licenses in Illinois, and thus they need to have driver’s ed in school, same as everybody else. What you’re missing is that the phrase “visually impaired” can cover a lot of territory–there are [quote unquote] “blind” kids in Chicago high schools who aren’t really, classically, what you think of as [quote unquote] “blind”. [Illinois requirements for visually impaired drivers](http://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/drivers/drivers_license/medical_vision.html). You only need to have 20/70 vision to get a driver’s license. Daylight driving only, sure, but it’s still a driver’s license. And so you need to have driver’s ed. And conditions of [quote unquote] “blindness” **can** get better, what with advances in medical technology, so what happens if some supposedly [quote unquote] “blind” teenager is allowed to skip driver’s ed her sophomore year, and then later gets her eyesight fixed by lasers or whatever, and then turns 18, goes out and gets her driver’s license, has a wreck and kills someone–and then the victim’s family discovers she wasn’t required to take driver’s ed and files a massive lawsuit against the school district, claiming that her lack of official driver’s ed class caused her to drive poorly and thus kill their nearest and dearest? Could happen. So the school district’s just covering its ass, like everybody else, and requiring “blind” kids to take driver’s ed. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/13 "2006-03-13T01:12:52Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > Wait until [Spring](http://www.danryanexpressway.com/) when they close half of the lanes for construction. > > **Bosada** , is this a Chicago requirement or an Illinois requirement? I thought Illinois required all students to take Driver’s Ed (the classroom, non-driving part) in their sophomore year. Sounds like CPS just needs to make it more clear that kids can get exempted. > > Also, I think your OP is mis-titled. As dumb as this is, I have a suspicion that it is not the all-time dumbest stunt pulled by CPS… Dude, the Illinois system requires it, but offers exceptions for handicapped students who obviously won’t be able to. Chicago just tells em “pass it or flunk, Blinky.” Chicago _knows_, but goes “So What?” ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/14 "2006-03-13T01:31:01Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > And why, since the Straight Dope is _based_ in Chicago, & an appreciable # of Dopers live in or near there, has nobody mention an article like this before? Um, maybe because we didn’t know about it until the Tribune ran that article a couple days ago, either? As dumb as this is (and it’s dumb), your upper caps yelling is way over the top. This is so not even the biggest problem with CPS. When kids don’t have to participate in lotteries to go to schools where the bathrooms are stocked with toilet paper, then I’ll start freaking out about 30 kids (out of 426,812) being forced to take a class they don’t need. Okay? According to the [CPS’ own website](http://www.cps.k12.il.us/AtAGlance.html), 85% of students are from low-income families. What does it say about a public school system that anyone who can afford to, sends their kids to private schools? Save your upper caps for the hundreds of thousands of kids who are getting cheated out of the chance of a decent education because they had the misfortune to have parents that can’t afford to get them out of a failing school system. (The CPS has this rebuilding program, Renaissance 2010, and they say things are getting better. I don’t know, I really hope so. Cause my taxes are paying for it, and I want the kids in this city to have a decent chance.) ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/15 "2006-03-13T01:52:36Z")
It makes sense, considering all the blind people already on the roads today. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/16 "2006-03-13T01:54:50Z")
Well, the kids had to take either drivers-ED or woodshop. I think that they made the right choice. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/17 "2006-03-13T01:55:36Z")
I think it’s good to have this diversity - now they won’t be forced into careers in sports refereeing or as keyboardists. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/18 "2006-03-13T02:22:47Z")
To be fair to CPS (of which I am an employee), the blind kid doesn’t have to PASS Driver’s Ed. He just has to TAKE Driver’s Ed. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/19 "2006-03-13T03:03:11Z")
I think this is a novel solution to the whole “braile on the drive up ATM” thing. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/20 "2006-03-13T03:14:30Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Um, maybe because we didn’t know about it until the Tribune ran that article a couple days ago, either? > > As dumb as this is (and it’s dumb), your upper caps yelling is way over the top. No fucking kidding. No offense, **Bosda** , but are you just incredibly stupid or something? You present this like it’s the greatest injustice in history. Yeah, there’s a bureaucratic snafu in one of the largest school districts in the country. It’s a bit ridiculous, a bit funny, and certainly dumb. But for Christ’s sake, _it’s also not that big a deal_. Since it’s made clear in the article that there _is_ a way for visually-impaired and blind students to get out of the requirements, it’s not even all that ridiculous. When a student requires a special schedule because they’re handicapped, it makes perfect sense that they would have to go through a specific process to do it. It’s not even clear that anything’s actually gone wrong here, since the problem appears to actually be that the students’ parents aren’t actually making the arrangements with the school that they ought to. Regardless, a couple students having to sit through a drivers’ ed class that they don’t need is such a minor issue that it’s amazing any journalist wasted their time writing on it at all. But I suppose it’s not too stupid and irrelevant for **Bosda** to throw a ridiculous shit-fit over, complete with demands for Chicago-area Dopers to explain why they haven’t brought this miniscule little issue up before. What a stupid, stupid OP. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043.md?page=2)