November 12, 2009, - 12:24 pm

Student Drivers To Be Force-Fed Environmental Propaganda?!

By Debbie Schlussel

I remember learning to drive.  The private driving school I went to didn’t teach me to drive and was a waste of time, but I was required to provide proof that I went to a driver’s ed school, in order to get my driver’s permit.  Then, the real driver’s education began–my dad taught me to drive.

drivingschoolpropaganda

But now, student drivers in Michigan will face more boredom–and a lot of global warming and environmental baloney–if some Democrat legislators have their way.  It’s more big government and not exactly a great idea in a state reeling from losses in the auto industry.  Not to mention that it’s outrageous to force-feed teens left-wing propaganda in exchange for the ability to drive, a necessity in most American communities which don’t have mass transit.

Manny Lopez, one of the few remaining good things about The Detroit Newsistan birdcage liner, has the alarming details:

Unfortunately, Michigan’s Legislature is in session and Reps. Bert Johnson, D-Detroit, and Dan Scripps, D-Leland, think the driving school rules aren’t hitting all cylinders.

The duo has introduced a bill that would mandate environmental activism into the curriculum. Students learning to drive would be forced to spend some of their time in class learning about “the importance of carpooling and using public transportation,” as well as “identifying the attributes of a fuel-efficient vehicle,” and “recycling vehicle parts and fluids,” among other secondary lessons that have nothing to do with captaining a two-ton machine down the freeway.

Johnson, for his part, defended the bill, which is fortunately stuck in a House committee right now, when he told The News that “giving them this type of information will help them to make better decisions.” . . .

If Johnson and his colleagues really want to make the roads safer for student drivers and the rest of us, they should allocate their time and our resources to ensuring that the potholes on the road get fixed the first time instead of cracking open every year and forcing us to dodge them like we do student drivers.

Right on. When the Detroit Newsistan goes out of business, Manny Lopez will be one of the few worthy of getting a job writing and informing elsewhere.

In the meantime, if the men who run the paper were smart, they’d replace stale hack and pan-Islamist ignoramus Nolan Finley as editorial page editor with Lopez. Then, the paper would actually be practicing the affirmative action it preaches for everyone else, by promoting a minority who actually deserves the job in spades.




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9 Responses

In my day, private driving school taught me how to drive a car. This proposed Michigan initiative has nothing to do with automotive safety and everything to do with liberal propaganda AKA political correctness. Its one thing to teach it in a current events class in schools as part of different perspectives. Its a different matter to force future drivers to subscribe to the Left’s worldview before they’re allowed to drive a car.

NormanF on November 12, 2009 at 12:33 pm

Debbie, didn’t your high school have driver’s ed? NO matter, Mine did and I needed my Mom to teach me but it helped with the insurance rates.
Later I got a little Fiat Spyder and she had to teach me how to shift. LOL
What a riot! But she had remembered and was a good driver so I learned well and drove that little bug all over the autobahns when my first DH was stationed in Germany.

MK750 on November 12, 2009 at 1:15 pm

Boy, Demokratic government is taking over everything.

Steve Harkonnen on November 12, 2009 at 1:56 pm

Greetings:

I didn’t have the normal teenage experience most of you had (mine was literally a horror story), so I didn’t learn to drive until I was in my mid-twenties.

I used to get into trouble in the Army, because no sergeant would believe a grown man never learned how to drive.

They’d want me to move a jeep or a truck, and I wouldn’t know how.

I got my first driver’s license when I returned from Viet Nam and was stationed in California.

My first car was a 1963 Chevy II Nova station wagon, with a 1965 Chevelle 383 V-8 engine and automatic transmission.

It was painted red and black, with white racing stripes and yellow piping trim, and the wheels were chrome magnum with baby moon hubcaps.

Boy, oh boy, oh boy!

I was in HEAVEN!

I survived Viet Nam, I had a car, a girlfriend, money in my pocket, and I was living in sunny California.

But, then I got my orders for Korea.

Thank you.

John Robert Mallernee on November 12, 2009 at 2:11 pm

“Students learning to drive would be forced to spend some of their time in class learning about “the importance of carpooling and using public transportation,” as well as “identifying the attributes of a fuel-efficient vehicle,” and “recycling vehicle parts and fluids,” among other secondary lessons that have nothing to do with captaining a two-ton machine down the freeway.”

This is exactly the stuff driver’s ed should be teaching. Mine was crap. I didn’t even learn to backup or park properly. Kids should be learning this stuff along with maintenance and other related stuff.

Norman Blitzer on November 12, 2009 at 2:31 pm

I learned to drive while stationed at Whidbey Island, Wa. at the ripe old age of 20. I had just come back from my first deployment in the Navy and couldn’t wait to learn how to drive. First I bought a car (1978 Ford Granada straight six). Then after failing the written test twice and the road test twice (3rd times a charm plus you’d have to pay again after the 3rd strike) I finally received my license and was free to go to Vancouver every weekend to party my little heart out. Soon children of conservative parents will be ordered by their schools to report any parents who speak against the state the what will this country be called.

seahawker on November 12, 2009 at 7:51 pm

You’re right, driving instructors can be unhelpful sometimes and most teaching is done by parents which isn’t always safe. What ever happened to this piece of legislation anyway?

Student Driver Signs on February 10, 2010 at 12:33 am

Students should learn that driving alone is NOT sustainable in 21st century. I grew up in the era when I was forced to take public transit and you know what – more people on the bus – less cars on the road, better air quality for all. Debbie – go back to your parents and ask them how did they managed to move about their business without an SUV.

All douches that support this blog and the goodie-two-shoes owner are loosers today and will be for rest of their lives.

Community living is the only way to live – look at way people live in Europe and/or Japan – most people either don’t have cars or they drive them only when absolutely necessary.

Segvan on October 4, 2011 at 8:39 pm

    While I think the middle paragraph’s language unnecessary, it should be obvious to anyone with a functioning mind that the points made are common sense. LA has one of the most active car cultures and the brown haze that covers the area is being shown to affect heart health, and to generate cognitive decline in both adults and children.
    Since vehicles and air quality are of a piece, it makes sense to expand classes to include information that directly affects choices these drivers in training will be making.
    Schlussel seems to think like other Americans who cannot face facts. Her rant is all too familiar, and the illustration choice truly odd, as it was a poster used during World War Two.
    What will these people do when there is no air they can safely breathe? Since they don’t understand global warming, how will they explain disastrous ecological problems as they continue to worsen?

    TBay on December 16, 2013 at 6:05 pm

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