We are residents of the State of Florida, which is one of the quickest and easiest states to obtain a divorce. The only legal requirement to obtain a divorce in Florida is that one of the parties (and children, if any) have resided in Florida for at least 6 months. It is also a no-fault state, which means that the reasons for the divorce are not really even considered in the case itself.
Here in Palm Beach County, there is a "Self-Help" center that has all the forms pre-printed. All you have to do is fill in the blanks. Some of the forms are much simpler than one would expect; however, others are much more difficult and practically require a CPA to properly complete.
Anyhow, on to today's topic of the Parenting Class. One of the requirements here in Florida is that if there are any children common to the divorcing parties, then they both must attend a parenting class before the divorce will be granted. Although an online version is available, we chose to attend in person and also decided to go together.
From my perspective, having an advanced college education, I felt the class was clearly created for the most basic level of comprehension. At the same time, I understand that a course such as this must be comprehensible to all who attend, particularly those at the lowest level of self-awareness. Being in South Florida, one might think language is also an issue, but the course is offered in Spanish and Creole (i.e. Hatian), as well as English.
As for the course itself, I felt that it introduced the basic concepts of dealing with your former spouse on a day-to-day baisis and provided some basic skills for doing so. If nothing else, the course teaches you that you must interact with your ex almost every day until the children turn 18, and likely beyond that, so you might as well be civil; even friendly, if possible. I suppose if one cared to obtain a more advanced lesson on the subject, he or she could do their own reading.
Although everyone in the class was there under court order, I was surprised to see that most participated and were truly interested in the issues discussed. My only suggestion might be that more couples attend together because the topics really have more context when your opponent (oops, I mean ex) is sitting there next to you. However, my soon-to-ex and I are very civil with each other (most of the time), intelligent, and usually able to self-analyze and recognize our own mistakes. For others who have had more difficult relationships, such as violence, substance abuse, etc., attending together may not be an option.
In conclusion, I personally felt the parenting class was not terribly groundbreaking, but at least caused me to think about my interactions with the soon-to-be-ex and most importantly, recognize that the children come first, not our personal lives. In fact, the course is entitled "Children First."