Developers of a new kind of preschool keep losing their grant money—the students are so successful they’re no longer “at-risk enough” to warrant further study. What’s their secret? When I was growing up in Seattle, I participated in a sort of national rite of passage: I spent the autumn of my sophomore year in high school taking a Driver’s Education class. I vividly remember my instructor. A tall, aged gentleman who wore thick glasses, bright cardigans, and plaid pants, he was the only one of our teachers who let us address him by his first name, Claude. He doubled as the school’s golf coach. I’d never thought of him as particularly kind or consoling, but he must have had the patience of a saint to teach teenagers both to drive a car and drive a golf ball. Because I’ve had only one accident, I’d always credited Claude with successfully teaching me to drive. And since it’s the way I learned to drive, I’d assumed that Driver’s Ed works.
