this generation

I took on the task of teaching my grandson to drive. YIKES! he is not stupid, straight A student. But.........where is the common sense? Can't maintain a steady speed, he is always behind then car, instead of slowly giving it gas when approaching a hill, he waits until he has lost 20 MPH or more (speed limit 45) before he takes any action. Crests the hill, starts picking up speed, and doesn't let up until he's well over the speed limit, or I correct him. Drifts toward the boundaries of the lane, and then, at the last minute, jerks the wheel. No concept of where he is supposed to be on the road. Took a right from a traffic lane, but instead of turning into his lane, he cut diagonally across it, across a turn lane and into oncoming traffic lane!!! Thank fully, there was no oncoming traffic.

They just never got the hands-on skills. When we were kids, we rode bikes around the city dealing with traffic. I don't think some kids now days even know how to ride a bike. We had go-carts, minibikes and snowmobiles and learned throttle and brake control and how to anticipate a situation. We started driving small tractors and moving up to bigger ones. We would have to drive a pickup across the field or out to the field. Dad and Grandpa taught us these things, but it was under orders of higher powers, Mother and Grandma. When I took drivers ed in high school we had a 4-cylinder, stick shift car. the first day of driving me and another farm boy were paired up for behind the wheel. We started the first day driving around the parking lot, it was a pretty big lot you could make a loop around. When we finished our first day the teacher says to both of us, I can see you boys have driven vehicles. Next class we can go on the road. Some kids didn't get to leave the parking lot for 2 weeks. We got shorted driving time at the end of the semester because other kids needed more practice. Still flunked my first driving test because of a stupid nervous mistake.