# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/21 "2006-03-13T04:05:16Z")
C’mon, it’s Chicago. If the dead can vote, surely the blind can drive? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/22 "2006-03-13T04:17:02Z")
[QUOTE=Duck Duck Goose] And conditions of [quote unquote] “blindness” **can** get better, what with advances in medical technology, so what happens if some supposedly > [@](#): > > “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. But will having taken Driver’s Ed when she was blind actually help when she regains her sight? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/23 "2006-03-13T11:25:00Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > **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. From the article: > [@](#): > > State law requires that all districts offer driver’s education, but does not mandate it as a graduation requirement. For the hundreds of high schools that do, there should be some exemption option for disabled students who cannot drive, a state education official said. > > […] > > Chicago’s public schools have no such exemption. That is something the Curie and Payton students are pushing to change, through an advocacy program at the Blind Service Association. And Bosda, as the others have said, that’s because none of us have blind kids in school in the CPS and/or thought to bitch about it before. I’m surprised that it took this long to get to the media. But fuck, it’s not like they’re putting these kids in slave labor; they’re just wasting a quarter/semester/whatever sitting in a useless class. (Side note: On the scale of things, 20/70 vision is pretty good, even as a best-corrected vision.) ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/24 "2006-03-13T11:48:20Z")
A schoolmate of my brother’s was blind (living in the ‘burbs of Chicago, back in the early 80’s). They asked her to take drivers’ ed. She asked for a book for it in braile. They could not produce. She did not need to take. QED. Although I bet there are said books in braile now. ---
**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, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/25 "2006-03-13T13:42:31Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > 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. According to State Regulation, _he doesn’t have to do either, **dammit**!_ :dubious: :mad: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/26 "2006-03-13T13:49:32Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > 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. Oh, c’mon. Blind kids having to take driver’s ed is a great story. How could you pass that up as a journalist? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/27 "2006-03-13T13:52:56Z")
What’s the school’s excuse going to be when the student demands a road test just like all the other students get? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/28 "2006-03-13T14:37:23Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > According to State Regulation, _he doesn’t have to do either, **dammit**!_ :dubious: :mad: :smack: The local regulation is more specific and supercedes it, otherwise the whole city and numerous other municipalities in the state would be violating the state regulation, and they’re not. > [@Monty](#): > > What’s the school’s excuse going to be when the student demands a road test just like all the other students get? I could quite well be wrong, but I was under the impression that they don’t offer the road portion. I thought most schools around here had dropped that (budgetary reasons) in favor of teaching the book/rules-n-regs portion only, and then teens have to go to private driving schools or learn from parents, etc., for the road part. I know my hometown school did that back in the early '90s and they’re only in a middling-to-large city in Wisconsin, so I wouldn’t be surprised if more cash-strapped school systems like CPS had as well. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/29 "2006-03-13T14:48:44Z")
I just want to applaud the State of Illinois for providing driver education to all its young residents. It cost me here in British Columbia about 700 dollars to provide it for my daughter several years ago. Unfortunately not all young drivers are getting it. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/30 "2006-03-13T15:49:03Z")
> [@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? Yah! And next thing you know, people will be marrying their pets! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/31 "2006-03-13T16:49:37Z")
Chicago has transcended the normal limits of bureaucracy and raised it to a thriving art form. The rational part of my brain tells me I should lament the stupidity, but the aesthetic part of me can’t help but admire the beauty of the breathtaking heights to which the Chicago machine has ascended. It’s like watching the Platonic ideal of a bureaucracy. ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/32 "2006-03-13T17:18:38Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > 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. So what happens to their GPA for being forced to take a class they have no use for and fail? Part of drivers ed class is your drive time. How can they be passing these children without having drive time logged? They are passing them without completing the course? There are so many issues that kids anywhere have to face today. I think one of the issues about this one is that it is so easily fixable. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/33 "2006-03-13T18:32:20Z")
What is actually involved in this course? I can see considerable utility in a course which helps a blind person determine if their driver is driving dangerously. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/34 "2006-03-13T19:24:00Z")
> [@Kricket](#): > > So what happens to their GPA for being forced to take a class they have no use for and fail? > Part of drivers ed class is your drive time. How can they be passing these children without having drive time logged? They are passing them without completing the course? > > There are so many issues that kids anywhere have to face today. I think one of the issues about this one is that it is so easily fixable. The district does not offer behind-the-wheel or simulator training; they offer the classroom portion only. Students are on their own for the rest of it. As I said before, I think a similar course on traffic safety for the vision- and hearing-impaired is a useful thing. But to put them through something like this just to fulfill a requirement is stupid beyond words. Robin ---
**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, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/35 "2006-03-13T19:30:59Z")
> [@mrklutz](#): > > Chicago has transcended the normal limits of bureaucracy and raised it to a thriving art form. The rational part of my brain tells me I should lament the stupidity, but the aesthetic part of me can’t help but admire the beauty of the breathtaking heights to which the Chicago machine has ascended. It’s like watching the Platonic ideal of a bureaucracy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/36 "2006-03-13T19:54:15Z")
I’d just like to praise \*\* Thudlow Boink\*\* for that most excellent of whoooshes, well done. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/37 "2006-03-13T20:49:11Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > C’mon, it’s Chicago. If the dead can vote, surely the blind can drive? When there is no more room in hell, blind cadavers will drive your taxis. Or something. ---
**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, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/38 "2006-03-13T21:20:35Z")
You know, a friend of mine in high school was blind, and had been her entire life. She once told me that her dad (who also happened to be my Spanish teacher) would sometimes take her down to the desert and let her drive the car. Nothing around for miles and miles, so she could just go nuts behind the wheel. So maybe driver’s ed for blind kids isn’t even that bad an idea. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/39 "2006-03-13T22:09:12Z")
[QUOTE=Duck Duck Goose] And conditions of [quote unquote] “blindness” **can** get better, what with advances in medical technology, so what happens if some supposedly > [@](#): > > “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? She would still have to pass the written and driving tests then, regardless of whether she took driver’s ed. Meaning if she didn’t take driver’s ed and pass the test at 16, she’d have to pass at 18. Hell, I didn’t take driver’s ed at all and got my license at 29 after sitting for the written and driving tests. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043/40 "2006-03-13T22:30:27Z")
Color me non-outraged. Passing a written road-rules exam will take a couple of hours of study, tops. Anyway, why is knowledge of written road rules considered be supremely useless for the blind? Maybe they might like to know what is going on when other people are talking, for example. There’s enough presumption in the OP that an advocate for the blind could take a mighty big swipe at. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-schools-pull-dumbest-all-time-stunt-the-blind-drivers-ed/348043.md?page=3)