Washington Post piece about Ohio high school football

[Bruce Monnin]

I have a nephew who finally got his driver's license during his third year of college. His parents would make the 200 mile drive to pick him up from school and bring him home at the end of semesters. I cannot understand either the kid or the parents.

 

[Sykotyk]

The only nieces and nephews, and cousins of mine that didn't get their license at 16 were the ones who flunked either the written or road tests. And they usually got them on the second try after waiting a few months to try again.

But they're all 'rural' areas where driving and car culture is important. If you live near a city or your family has just one car, I can see why holding off on getting your kids licensed may be a simple reality. It's an unneeded cost for something that will never be used anyways for a few years.

 

[HSFB Fan]

I have a nephew who finally got his driver's license during his third year of college. His parents would make the 200 mile drive to pick him up from school and bring him home at the end of semesters. I cannot understand either the kid or the parents.

Having a driver’s license was not an option with our kids, both had to have a driver’s license at 16. They also got to practice driving in our campground with a golf cart at 14 and riding dirt bikes.
Our district still does not provide transportation to school for the High school and with both daughters playing year around sports it was a must. Now they both also ended up driving some other friends that did not have a car to school/sports, but most had at least a drivers license. Both went on to college. One stayed in Cincy the other went to Louisville between school and work no way they could not have had a car.

I see so many students that lose out on opportunities because they do not have a drivers license or lose earning potential by waiting until 18 or longer.

 

[playboi12]

I have a nephew who finally got his driver's license during his third year of college. His parents would make the 200 mile drive to pick him up from school and bring him home at the end of semesters. I cannot understand either the kid or the parents.

Yeah I am glad he did that. Ain’t no way im driving 200 miles to pick up my boy when he is perfectly capable of getting his own.

 

[ThursdayAllAmerican]

Lots of good (and some bad) points made.
I believe the drop in participation is in all sports. I don’t have data support that other than hearing schools don’t have JV in some sport like girls basketball, which should always have a JV squad. Or schools playing 1/2 a JV contest because they don’t have enough players with available quarters to go around.
Why? The level of commitment now compared to 15-20 years ago is so much more. A kid can no longer play basketball if they’re not committed to playing year round in some capacity. I don’t mean playing AAU necessarily (although that’s a very popular option), but you have to attend more offseason stuff with your HS team or your skills (unless you’re very gifted) are going to fall behind.

So you get forced to give something up. You can’t play AAU basketball in the spring AND play baseball because you’re too busy and the entire varsity roster for baseball plays “select” ball all summer and fall. Then kids opt out of football because they’ve invested so much time and money into these other sports that play way more games and let’s be honest, playing games is fun so kids choose soccer, baseball, etc early on and football “just isn’t

Track participation numbers are probably down 30% or more because of specialization.

Pay to play is nothing new, it probably hurts in same cases but a lot of schools offer options. You can have a reduced fee if you qualify for reduced lunch or you can work concessions to help pay the fee. I don’t think that’s as big of a factor.

I do believe that kids like money and when you can work at the local grocery store stocking shelves and pushing carts for $15/hr… that’s hard to turn down when sports were just a casual thing for that kid anyways. So he/she works and might be on the bowling team.

Lots of factors have contributed but we are where we are and I don’t see it getting better anytime soon.

 

[bigkat]

I have a nephew who finally got his driver's license during his third year of college. His parents would make the 200 mile drive to pick him up from school and bring him home at the end of semesters. I cannot understand either the kid or the parents.

a WHOLE bunch of parents and kids like that now a days...

 

[Sykotyk]

a WHOLE bunch of parents and kids like that now a days...

I know for some, it's the ridiculous cost of insurance. Especially if your kid is driving your nice, new more expensive car. As a teenager, I got placed on my parents insurance as the primary driver of their third car. Liability only since the car wasn't worth putting full coverage. Today, it's rare to see someone giving their teen an old beater car to drive. Cries about 'safety' and 'crash test rating'... my generation died like men in crumpled metal coffins (/snark). Either way, I know even that was quite high for my parents insurance.

I know my insurance is pretty cheap today due to a pretty good record. My wife's accident didn't even bump our rates up. But, I dread when my daughter hits 16 and gets her license how much it would cost to insure her in whatever vehicle she might drive.

 

[PeterDragon]

My niece plays JV basketball at a small school in Kentucky, about 30 miles outside of Louisville. She plays only 3 games the entire month of December because the other schools don't have JV teams. The same schools she played in junior high now don't have enough girls for JV. Her class had 10 girls playing, now down to 5. I don't have any answers just throwing this out there.

 

[Captain Obvious]

I know for some, it's the ridiculous cost of insurance.

This and the inflated cost of used cars has contributed to some kids and parents delaying the driving process. We cycled our older family vehicle to our daughter and were fortunate enough to grab a very old truck for our son to drive around town at a reasonable price. The kids drive my wife’s car if they’re making longer travel. Many of the kids in my direct area travel interstates so I can understand their desire for a safer car. The neighbor bought his daughter a 2012(?) sedan with 100K miles for close to $12,000. Used cars have been in very high demand by dealers and car buyers alike pushing up their value to place where you have to use better judgment or to risk getting burnt. I’d also add that if your birthday occurred during early lockdown you probably weren’t getting your license until you were sixteen and a half or seventeen. Btw, it’s close to a grand a year for some students to purchase a university parking pass due to the privatization of parking of many campuses.

 

[bigkat]

I know for some, it's the ridiculous cost of insurance. Especially if your kid is driving your nice, new more expensive car. As a teenager, I got placed on my parents insurance as the primary driver of their third car. Liability only since the car wasn't worth putting full coverage. Today, it's rare to see someone giving their teen an old beater car to drive. Cries about 'safety' and 'crash test rating'... my generation died like men in crumpled metal coffins (/snark). Either way, I know even that was quite high for my parents insurance.

I know my insurance is pretty cheap today due to a pretty good record. My wife's accident didn't even bump our rates up. But, I dread when my daughter hits 16 and gets her license how much it would cost to insure her in whatever vehicle she might drive.

i do alot of driving for my job... one thing EVERY parent should do is DEMAND that their teenage kid( mainly young girls) stay OFF your phones while driving.....I told my kids years ago... if i see them on their phones while driving, they lose their phones until they move out of the house...