Got High Failure Rates? Just Make the Test Easier!

Parallel Parking Gone Very Wrong

First, a big shout-out to all this month’s graduates. Congratulations! You and your families should be very proud. As your commencement speakers will likely tell you, this isn’t the end, it’s the beginning. The road will be bumpy but great things lie ahead. You will learn from your failures.

Unless you’re taking the Maryland’s drivers test. Apparently too many people were failing the parallel parking requirement. Solution? The state eliminated that requirement.

Wow, what if we could get rid of everything that’s hard? So awesome! The only problem: eliminating a requirement doesn’t mean the challenge goes away. We can eliminate math in grade school; it doesn’t mean the kids don’t need to know it. Same with parallel parking. Because there’s a lot of it in Maryland and D.C. I share more of my thoughts in The Washington Post. Please read my take here (bonus: managed to include a reference to recent Williamsburg field trip and the craft of wig-making). And if you have oodles of free time, please comment on the Post site.

For those still working on that driver’s license, take your time. Learning it right makes good sense. And to their parents, please remind me of all this when my kids start the process. Try not to laugh too much (I’ve had flashbacks to my early driving. It was… something).

Have a great weekend, drive safely and park well!