Chicago schools require even blind kids to pass driver's ed class

[underpants]

http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/state/14067130.htm

CHICAGO - Most high school students eagerly await the day they pass driver's education class. But Mayra Ramirez is indifferent about it.

Ramirez is blind, yet she and dozens of other visually impaired sophomores in Chicago's public school system are required to pass a written rules-of-the-road exam in order to graduate - a rule they say takes time away from learning material they might actually use.

"In other classes, you don't really feel different because you can do the work other people do," said Ramirez, 16. "But in driver's ed, it does give us the feeling we're different. In a way, it brought me down, because it reminds me of something I can't do."

Hundreds of school districts in Illinois require students to pass driver's education before they graduate, although the state only requires that districts offer the courses. A state education official says districts that require it should offer an exemption for disabled students.

[ThomCat]

1. This is now on my list

of one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.

[Elidor]

2. So you're okay with blind people driving without any instruction???

They shouldn't be exempt from the rules, dammit!

:hide:

[underpants]

3. Well since you put it that way

:rofl:

[DS1]

6. They'd be fine in Boston

Bumpercars is normal, just orient yourself by which side of your face is warmed by the sun.

[JackBeck]

4. My sister is legally blind and not allowed to drive a car.

She had to take the test in high school and was upset about it. But then again, she had the highest score in the class! I always take her to empty parking lots and let her drive around. F*ck what the law says!

[realisticphish]

5. Our school didn't have drivers ed

and frankly, I'm glad. It would have been a cake course, and a waste of our time. I went to a nearby driving school, and it was over in two weeks. I can't imagine stretching it over a quarter or semester