If You’re Looking for America, Sign Up for Defensive Driving
I spent all day yesterday in a defensive driving class. Obviously, I would have preferred to spend my Saturday doing something else, especially on Labor Day weekend, but that’s what I had to do. Considering how bad it might have been, I must admit it wasn’t a wasted day. The instructor was entertaining and really had a unique and positive perspective on life. What was the most interesting thing about the class? Not the data on airbags or drunk driving or when you can turn left at a red light. Not at all. The most interesting thing about the class was the group of people taking it.
If you’re looking for America, people, just sign up for a defensive driving class. There were 17 of us, including the instructor and I can imagine few situations in which such a cross-section of the American population would voluntarily come together and spend six hours with one another. It was fodder for any Robert Altman film, to say the least.
I was so struck, in fact, by the assembly that I checked the U.S. Census Bureau’s web site ( http://www.census.gov/) just for comparison purposes.
The similarities are incredibly parallel, if not uncanny. So for you, I have included here the percentage data from my defensive driving class alongside the Census data from 2000 (and 2005 when possible).
The age category is the only category that doesn’t blow my mind and I imagine that’s simply because a higher percentage of younger people are more likely to get traffic tickets.
In regard to levels of education, obviously I am making my best guess. Perhaps I presume to know too much, but I feel pretty confident that my guesses are accurate. I was able to deduce level of education based on employment (which many of them shared with the class).
And here are some other interesting tidbits of data from the class for which I have no U.S. Census comparison data:
During breaks, topics of conversation included Iraq, President Bush, the price of gas, God, the Universe, divorce, marriage, the right to purchase alcohol on Sundays, the consequences that the government should be able to impose for drunk driving, the legalization of marijuana, paternity suits, DNA testing, Michael Jackson, O.J. Simpson, Maury Povich, and practicing random acts of kindness.
It was an interesting day.
If you’re looking for America, people, just sign up for a defensive driving class. There were 17 of us, including the instructor and I can imagine few situations in which such a cross-section of the American population would voluntarily come together and spend six hours with one another. It was fodder for any Robert Altman film, to say the least.
I was so struck, in fact, by the assembly that I checked the U.S. Census Bureau’s web site ( http://www.census.gov/) just for comparison purposes.
The similarities are incredibly parallel, if not uncanny. So for you, I have included here the percentage data from my defensive driving class alongside the Census data from 2000 (and 2005 when possible). The age category is the only category that doesn’t blow my mind and I imagine that’s simply because a higher percentage of younger people are more likely to get traffic tickets.
In regard to levels of education, obviously I am making my best guess. Perhaps I presume to know too much, but I feel pretty confident that my guesses are accurate. I was able to deduce level of education based on employment (which many of them shared with the class).
And here are some other interesting tidbits of data from the class for which I have no U.S. Census comparison data:
- I believe there was 1 gay male and the rest of the folks were heterosexual. That's 5.88% of the class.
- 4 out of 17 made reference to the fact that they were divorced. Including me, that's 29.41% of the class.
- 7 of the 17 made reference to the fact that they had children. That's 41.17% of the class.
During breaks, topics of conversation included Iraq, President Bush, the price of gas, God, the Universe, divorce, marriage, the right to purchase alcohol on Sundays, the consequences that the government should be able to impose for drunk driving, the legalization of marijuana, paternity suits, DNA testing, Michael Jackson, O.J. Simpson, Maury Povich, and practicing random acts of kindness.
It was an interesting day.
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