LICENSE TO DRIVE

High-school driver education is still one of the best ways for new drivers to learn and develop correct driving skills and attitudes. safety experts agree.

Before high-school driver education was offered, most teenage drivers were taught how to drive by their parents, some other family member, or a friend. Most often, driving lessons were taught on a rural road away from other vehicles and hazards. If the instructor had bad driving habits or a bad attitude, those habits were usually passed on to the student, which is why high-school driver education is considered to be the best way to learn to drive.

Dick Wadlington has taught driver education at Central High School since 1974. Wadlington, a 1963 graduate of Central, said today's student drivers aren't much different than those of 20 to 30 years ago.

"They all want to learn how to drive," he said. "They also make the same mistakes in learning how to drive, and some of them have the same attitude problem that will cause them to become bad drivers if that attitude isn't corrected."

Wadlington said teenage drivers usually learn faster and have quicker reflexes than older drivers. But, he said, 16-year-olds generally lack two important elements in becoming a safe drivers: experience and maturity.

"The driver education instructor's greatest challenge is to instill in a student's mind the proper attitude toward driving, particularly defensive driving," said Wadlington. "At age 16, most of these kids believe they are immortal, and they tend to take chances and risks that older, more mature and experienced drivers wouldn't.

"In high-school driver education, we teach them the basic skills of driving, but we also talk about drinking and driving, drugs and driving, speeding, courtesy and giving the right-of-way to other motorists, and defensive driving to avoid accidents. But when they get in their car and they're out there on the road alone, it's up to them to make use of what they've learned."

It isn't mandatory in Missouri to complete a driver education course to obtain a driver's license at age 16. Illinois requires all new drivers to complete a high-school driver education course before they receive their license at age 16. That is why all Illinois high schools -- including Shawnee, Egyptian, and Century, in southern Illinois -- offer driver education courses during the regular school year.

In Missouri, Jackson is the only school district in the immediate Cape Girardeau area that still offers driver education during the school year. Other nearby high schools have either eliminated it from their curriculum or moved their driver education to a shortened, summer program.

Assistant School Superintendent Fred Jones said during the past year Jackson High School had 24 sections of one-semester driver education, with an average of 10 students per class. The district has two dual-control cars and two full-time driving instructors.

Several years ago Central High School in Cape Girardeau eliminated its 18-week, one-semester driver education program because of budget cutbacks. The school offers an abbreviated program during the summer for students.

The Cape Girardeau Vocational-Technical School also offers driver education for high-school students and adults throughout the year on a one-on-one basis.

Notre Dame High School dropped its driver education program several years ago.

Kelly School District near Benton instituted a summer driver education program this year.

The Missouri Department of Education says the number of high schools offering driver education during the regular school year has declined dramatically in the past three years. Otis Baker, assistant commissioner for the department's division of instruction, said that during the 1992-93 school year 134 Missouri high schools offered driver education during the school year. That was down from 191 schools in the 1991-92 school year, and 209 schools in the 1990-91 school year.

Baker attributes the decline to several factors.

"Many schools had to make budgetary cutbacks the past several years, and driver education is usually one of the first to be cut," he said. "Public support for driver education has also declined because fewer insurance companies offer discounts for students who have completed high-school driver education. Instead, they offer discounts for scholastic achievement because studies have found these students make better drivers."

Baker said people are beginning to express concern about the decline in high-school driver education, but, "There is no indication at this point if they are willing to support a driver education program financially."

Baker said school districts receive no direct state aid for driver education programs, although grants are available for equipment.