The issue, to me, is not the lad's abilities, but his father's attitude towards cycling and allowing his son to commute in traffic to and from work and school. While everyone's suggestions about taking courses and reading books is all well and good, who's going to finance this, and what's he going to use as a bike... because he is not allowed to buy one!

Perhaps we all should get his father's email address and bombard him with the information. Simply, convincing a caring parent who is not familiar with biking culture to allow his son out on the roads is the real issue here, and that is a difficult task, as slagjumper has just pointed out.