I grew up on a farm and spent most of my teens driving around big farm trucks that were all manual, but I haven't had to drive one on a regular basis in about 15 years. Last time I did need to drive one was on a trip to BC about five years ago, and I found it all came back to me right away.
To me, it's one of those things where it's really silly for anyone to feel elitist about it one way or another. Given that there seem to be so many people who don't know how to use a traffic circle, or a four-way stop, or how to merge onto a freeway correctly, and a whole host of other basic driving skills, manual transmissions are way down the list of skills that young drivers need.
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