The excitement and anticipation over getting a driver’s license isn’t easily forgotten, and is repeated every day, across the nation and around the world.  But first, ah…  The Learner’s Permit!  And getting ahold of one of those little beauties usually required one simple little class - Driver’s Ed.

While experiences differ from state to state, most schools offered a class to teach students every minute (and often brain-numbingly boring) detail about driving.  Though securing the holy grail of young adulthood can achieved through a variety of means, for many would-be drivers it involved reviewing state driving manuals, sitting through a collection of hokey safety videos, and a good healthy dose of practicing around the school parking lot with the gym teacher (or some random coach) assigned to teach kids the rules of the road.

Safety first!  In and around the parking lot were constant reminders that failure to check the parking breaks, fasten your seat belts, check your mirror, check the locks, and check the parking break once more would almost certainly result in injury and death.  That’s a lot of pressure for a soon-to-be driver!  In addition to standard operating procedure, Driver’s Ed students are schooled on what to do in event of rain, snow or emergency, such as the hood popping up on the highway, a la Tommy Boy. 

State-mandated requirements, including tests on basic maneuvers (like that pesky parallel parking) and logging time on the road, are the final task on the road to the Learner’s Permit, and once completed to the satisfaction of the instructor, that ticket to eventual adulthood freedom was all yours!  While official Learners might not have been able to drive solo right away, the long-awaited official driver’s license was only a birthday away.  (Now, if only the camera--and the line-- at the DMV would cooperate!)