If parents are going to teach it, they should at least have to buy a sign.If you get extremely nervous climbing into the passenger seat with one of your parents at the wheel, write your legislator now and tell them to oppose Senate Bill 5371 [PDF]. An 8-person coalition of state law-makers, crossing party and geographic lines, introduced it today in the Senate to make it possible for parents to teach their kids a state-approved driver’s ed curriculum, circumventing the time-honored tradition of learning it from burned-out math teachers looking to make a little extra cash on the side. It makes me nervous for two reasons: first, even with a little guidance from the state, a lot of parents haven’t spent much time thinking about the rules of the road in several decades. Driving around the streets in the snow didn’t inspire confidence that many people still remember how to navigate in “adverse conditions”. Second, and even more disturbing, is the prospect of kids getting behind the wheel of a car without a big “student driver” sign on the top warning you to give wide berth.And really, would you have wanted to miss out on that crazy car with the passenger side break, the simulators where you dodge children and dogs darting into a movie screen, and the always interesting people that seem to be drawn to the driver’s ed line of work? (I took it from Mr. Witkowski who, the first time I got behind the wheel of the school’s ancient Chevy Celebrity turned to me as we got underway and asked–this was at a public high school mind you–if I had personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Why? Was I going to need one real soon?)You can already get out of driver’s ed after age 18. If you want a license to operate a weapon as deadly as a vehicle before then, you should have to learn it from a professional.