This is NOT intended as a flame! :-)
On Tue, 7 May 1996 PxA5%EngPpl%GS@go50.comp.pge.com wrote:
> In my opinion the neccessity of a sixteen year old driving doesn't exist
> anymore.
Bullshit. Think about it, we want to create more productive teenagers to
become the leaders of tomorrow, etc, right? In fact, from what it
sounds like, you were a productive teenager yourself working on a farm
and helping out with duties around the family, right? Doesn't the
same apply for suburban (and urban?) families who want their kids to be
more productive and try to work, go to activities, etc in high school?
Both of my parents worked when I was in school and continue to do
so not out of financial necessity for both but because they wanted to be
productive with their lives and realized that being a full-time
chauffeur for my sister and I was hard with our many activities from
piano lessons to the infinite hockey/soccer/lacrosse games and
practices took too much time away from their enjoyment so they were
perfectly happy to hand over the keys and lay some ground rules about
keeping my grades high, paying for my own speeding tickets and
accidents, along with the pre-emptory lecture on the dangers of
drinking and driving, blah, blah, and I was off.
Having a car around was one of the greatest things to happen in
high school, I could now see friends who lived further away, not
wait for my chronically late mother to come and pick me up from hockey
practices after school, and hold down a job to save for college, pay
for my gas, and chip in for kegs at weekend parties. Had I not had a
car, I would have been stuck riding a bicycle to dates, and public
transportation simply isn't everywhere. Teens, as stupid some of them
may be, need to have access to cars and licenses.
Joey
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