I’ve banged my head against this teacher before, but this time I went to the principal. He has an exercise that he uses for “communication”. With two 15 year old students in the car, he puts a paper bag over the drivers head and has the passenger tell the driver where on the course to go. The instructor is NOT in the car. I feel this sends too many wrong messages to the student, that you can drive impaired, or operate a vehicle without a full view, or depend on another persons judgement, not to mention the possiblility for an accident. I called around to see if this was an approved teaching method, and the Lt. at the highway Patrol was in disbelief, along with the Fla. Safety Council. The National Transportation Safety Council was a joke! Can anyone see this as a good thing.
notify the insurance carrier. The school has public records. Whoever is insuring the cars used in the driver’s ed need to be informed that the instructor is putting them at risk. Even if they’re just driving around a parking lot, there’s risk of damage to the vehicles and the passengers.
It sounds like an exceptionally bad idea–teaching trust is fine in the proper setting, but I can see no way that this is improving their driving skills. To drive, you need good vision, good reflexes, good judgment. This teacher needs to practice his “team-building” exercises elsewhere, not on the driver-ed course.
If you don’t get a response from the principal, go over his/her head. This is foolish and dangerous.
Notify people. A lot of them. I can’t imagine that anyone would think that this is a good idea. Kids that age aren’t known for their outstanding driving habits at the best of times, nevermind depending on another teenager for directions. Surely there are better ways of demonstrating effective communication without putting people at physical risk.