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Thread: What's wrong with getting a GED?

  1. #1
    Oliphaunt Baldwin's avatar
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    Default What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quite a few times in the past few years, I've seen disparaging references to people who have a GED (General Equivalency Diploma) rather than a regular high school diploma. I just wondered if anybody could shed light on this.

    My background: In 1978 I was anxious to get the hell out of high school and into college. The summer after my Junior year, I took some correspondence courses that I thought would complete my high school credit requirements (Texas History, Trig and Pre-calc, if I recall).

    Unfortunately, come autumn, I found that: a) my high school wouldn't give me credit for the correspondence courses, and wouldn't consider letting my graduate early; and b) Texas Tech wouldn't consider letting me enroll without a high school diploma, regardless of my high SATs.

    I didn't fancy spending another nine months in my stupid hick Texas high school, so I just didn't go my Senior year. If I could have, I would have taken the GED immediately, but in Texas you can't do that until you're 19. (Don't ask me why.)

    I ended up taking the test after we moved to Tennessee. I scored in the top 1 or 2 percentile, so I didn't feel undereducated.

    So, what's wrong with a GED? Did I miss anything special by not attending 12th Grade?

  2. #2
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    I don't think it's the GED itself that has a bad reputation, I think it's the fact that most people who have them dropped out of high school for less desirable reasons than you did.

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    my god, he's full of stars... OneCentStamp's avatar
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    I think the stigma of a GED is due in large part to the fact that your case is very much the exception. I've known a lot of people who got GEDs...several dozen at least. Most often, they're people who dropped out in tenth grade, not twelfth, and were most decidedly not in Pre-Cal. Rather than looking at Texas Tech, they were getting GEDs so that they could become shift managers at the Blockbuster.

    I don't think there's anything inherently bad about the GED, but it has a (well-deserved, IMHO) stigma as a remedial thing for people who couldn't hack high school.
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    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    I thought you knew, all people with GEDs are either criminals or fairly stupid.

    Unless of course they are one of the vast majority that are neither like you and my Dad. My Dad had a very bad family life and took the GED while still going to school so he could join the Air Force at only 17 and make something of his life. I knew many guys in the military that all took the GED to get out of a bad situation or shitty town quicker.

  5. #5
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by OneCentStamp
    I think the stigma of a GED is due in large part to the fact that your case is very much the exception. I've known a lot of people who got GEDs...several dozen at least. Most often, they're people who dropped out in tenth grade, not twelfth, and were most decidedly not in Pre-Cal. Rather than looking at Texas Tech, they were getting GEDs so that they could become shift managers at the Blockbuster.
    I agree with this. I got a GED for pretty much the same reasons as the OP, and the people that I did the assessment tests and exam with were by far not the sharpest tools in the shed. I remember that the lady that graded the assessment tests told me "Wow, you won't have to take any courses. You could do the exam right away." It boggled my mind; they have courses for the GED? It's the easiest test in the world!

  6. #6
    Oliphaunt Baldwin's avatar
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by What Exit?
    I thought you knew, all people with GEDs are either criminals or fairly stupid.

    Unless of course they are one of the vast majority that are neither like you and my Dad. My Dad had a very bad family life and took the GED while still going to school so he could join the Air Force at only 17 and make something of his life. I knew many guys in the military that all took the GED to get out of a bad situation or shitty town quicker.
    Yeah -- I think I've seen references to "GEDs" as being an example of lowering standards in service recruitment.

    I guess there is some value to a regular high school diploma in that it shows you're capable of completing something. Same with a college degree, regardless of the field.

  7. #7
    I've had better days, but I don't care! hatesfreedom's avatar
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    I doubt they still have limits but for awhile the military would only take so many GED students per year. This is because they had a tendency to drop out at higher rates during their first tour and just generally be fucktards when compared to highschool graduate recruits.

    So yah, it shows your capable of completing something you might not necessarily have wanted to do every day.

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    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by hatesfreedom
    I doubt they still have limits but for awhile the military would only take so many GED students per year. This is because they had a tendency to drop out at higher rates during their first tour and just generally be fucktards when compared to highschool graduate recruits.

    So yah, it shows your capable of completing something you might not necessarily have wanted to do every day.
    But are there any statistics to back that up or just scuttlebutt.

    I can easily say that the 4-year college dropouts were more likely to screw up as they already failed out of a cushy situation and figured they had the safety net of returning home. The GED kids needed to work harder as failing in the military meant returning to world of shit. I have no statistics to back this up either, but it sounds logical, doesn't it?

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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    A lot of people see the letters "GED" and automatically think "moron" but I know people who have GEDs who are smarter than people I work with who have masters degrees.

  10. #10
    I've had better days, but I don't care! hatesfreedom's avatar
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    likewise i know some GED holders who are slightly smarter than my dog, who is dumber than my cat.

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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by hatesfreedom
    likewise i know some GED holders who are slightly smarter than my dog, who is dumber than my cat.
    LOL! Yeah there are idiots in every bunch. Just don't be like a lot of people and assume someone is an idiot who doesn't know what they're talking about as soon as you see "GED". It's not always true.

  12. #12
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    The problem with the GED is that it is in no way equivalent to getting a high school diploma. Any C and B student aged 12 or older who is not taking all remedial courses should be able to pass the GED with flying colors. I'm pretty confident that I would have been able to pass the GED test at the age of 8 or 9, if not sooner. There are smart people with GEDs, but one has to ask why. It's not hard at all to graduate high school, although it is significantly more work than passing a test that's easier than the ASVAB.

    I dropped out of high school in the last semester of my senior year due to a discipline problem (a long story that I decided to cut out and save in a .txt file for a better time), but even then I knew that a GED was not an acceptable alternative, and instead went to an "Alternative Learning Center" for dropouts that gave you an actual diploma.

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    Elephant
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Another worthless slacker, checking in. I left high school at the end of 11th grade because I was bored, and wanted to move on with life. A year later, I'd decided to join the Navy (a ship seemed like a better place to be as opposed to slogging through rice paddies), but they wanted a GED. So I took the test, received my GED, and then took the Navy entrance exam, which wasn't that difficult, but the recruiters made a big deal out of the score, which was within 10 points of perfect.

    Some potential employers gave the raised eyebrow when reviewing an application, so the anti-GED prejudice is a valid observation. Several decades later, I've concluded that if you look down on someone else because they chose an alternate means to an end, that says more about you than it does about them, and also makes me aware that you're a putz.
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  14. #14
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by danceswithcats
    Some potential employers gave the raised eyebrow when reviewing an application, so the anti-GED prejudice is a valid observation. Several decades later, I've concluded that if you look down on someone else because they chose an alternate means to an end, that says more about you than it does about them, and also makes me aware that you're a putz.
    I personally wouldn't look down on someone for having a GED, but I would take it under consideration when considering a person for a job or a position of responsibility. A person with a GED can be a great person in many ways (and I've had plenty of friends who dropped out of high school for dumb reasons, teenagers can be stupid and wise up later) but I would have to be convinced that they had good reasons for not finishing high school or that they have demonstrated responsibility since then.

    I wouldn't see someone who has a GED and has held a demanding job for years any differently than a high school graduate, as they have shown that they have developed the maturity necessary to become a high school graduate. If someone who has a GED also has bounced around from job to job, I would question any excuses they had for their job history as it would start to look like a long-term personality flaw.

  15. #15
    Elephant
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by Badtz Maru
    The problem with the GED is that it is in no way equivalent to getting a high school diploma.
    I'd say that depends entirely upon where you went to high school.

    My high school wasn't horrible, but it was no great shakes, either. The AP classes were painfully unadvanced. I dropped out and got my GED when I lost seven months of my junior year to a health problem, and sure as hell wasn't gonna stick around to be bored out of my skull for an extra year.

    I'm sure that lots of people with GEDs aren't especially bright. Of course, I'm equally sure that lots of people with BA and BS degrees aren't especially bright. And also convinced by experience that a somewhat smaller, but still significant percentage of people with advanced degrees aren't especially bright. On the whole, lots and lots of people aren't especially bright.

    A GED might imply that someone was too lazy to finish high school, or it might imply that they were self-aware enough to realize that high school wasn't an especially good use of their time. Kind of like a BA might imply that someone is actually knowledgable about their chosen major, or it might imply that they were more than happy to spend four years tapping kegs on their parents' dime.

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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by Badtz Maru
    The problem with the GED is that it is in no way equivalent to getting a high school diploma.
    Please cite. I believe we've already agreed that some folks, having completed 12 years of public education are dumber than a box of rocks, and others are quite capable, despite having achieved that hallowed 'rite of passage'. Expound on your thesis.
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by danceswithcats
    Quote Originally posted by Badtz Maru
    The problem with the GED is that it is in no way equivalent to getting a high school diploma.
    Please cite. I believe we've already agreed that some folks, having completed 12 years of public education are dumber than a box of rocks, and others are quite capable, despite having achieved that hallowed 'rite of passage'. Expound on your thesis.
    He didn't say that every actual graduate is smarter than every GED holder, only that a single-day test is different from four years of classes.
    I was one of the smartest students in my high school (760/740 SAT), but I refused to write papers, or do most other forms of homework. Therefore, I routinely failed English class. At the end of my fourth year of high school, the school told me that although I wasn't graduating, it would be a waste of everyone's time for me to come back for another year. So, I breezed through the GED.
    I couldn't function well enough to graduate from high school, but getting a GED was easy.

  18. #18
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by danceswithcats
    Quote Originally posted by Badtz Maru
    The problem with the GED is that it is in no way equivalent to getting a high school diploma.
    Please cite. I believe we've already agreed that some folks, having completed 12 years of public education are dumber than a box of rocks, and others are quite capable, despite having achieved that hallowed 'rite of passage'. Expound on your thesis.
    It is a lot more work to graduate from high school, even if you take non-advanced classes, than it does to get a GED. All that having a GED proves is that you took and passed a very easy test that almost anyone could pass on. Graduating from high school means that you attended four years of classes and passed dozens, if not hundreds, of tests over several years, as well as completed many other assignments like writing papers. You don't have to be smart to graduate high school, but you do have to have a certain level of persistence and the ability to work over an extended period of time (and that includes maintaining a certain level of attendance, very important in the "real world" where have of success is showing up). Someone who graduates high school has at least some interest in their future and worked towards a goal for four years. Someone who passes the GED wanted a piece of paper to put on their job applications and took a test that (unless they were very ignorant and uneducated) required no study.

    All other things being equal, I would hire a person with a diploma over a GED every time.

  19. #19
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    [quote=Tool of the Conspiracy]
    Quote Originally posted by danceswithcats
    Quote Originally posted by "Badtz Maru":re4025b8
    The problem with the GED is that it is in no way equivalent to getting a high school diploma.
    Please cite. I believe we've already agreed that some folks, having completed 12 years of public education are dumber than a box of rocks, and others are quite capable, despite having achieved that hallowed 'rite of passage'. Expound on your thesis.
    He didn't say that every actual graduate is smarter than every GED holder, only that a single-day test is different from four years of classes.
    I was one of the smartest students in my high school (760/740 SAT), but I refused to write papers, or do most other forms of homework. Therefore, I routinely failed English class. At the end of my fourth year of high school, the school told me that although I wasn't graduating, it would be a waste of everyone's time for me to come back for another year. So, I breezed through the GED.
    I couldn't function well enough to graduate from high school, but getting a GED was easy.[/quote:re4025b8]

    You prove a point. I imagine that, despite your intelligence, you would have problems in an academic environment where you needed to do extensive homework right out of high school (though you may have developed a better attitude towards homework later). A college would be right in looking at your SAT scores and your lack of a high school diploma and denying you entrance, because you did not have proof of skills needed to succeed there. An employer might look at that lack of diploma and choose to avoid someone who has problems with putting in extra hours outside of your regular 8 a day and doing extensive clerical work.

    There are reasons (i.e. medical or family situations) where someone who is perfectly capable of getting a high school diploma ends up getting a GED instead, but I feel like they are the minority. I imagine that most people who have GEDs are intelligent enough to graduate high school (because you don't have to be intelligent at all to get through it), but lacked the mental attitude required at the time.

  20. #20
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    A fine point has been missed by some of you. Both the OP and I attended three of our four years, so a distinction should be drawn between those who exit the education system at the end of 8th grade, and those who exit after 11 years.

    I've no clue how things are with NCLB, but I do remember those classes in which everybody got it, except Little Dim Tim, and while the teacher went over it for the fourth time, the rest of us looked around and shook our heads.

    I'm sorry you feel that way, Badtz Maru, because you may in so doing pass over hidden talent owing to your own personal bias.
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by danceswithcats
    A fine point has been missed by some of you. Both the OP and I attended three of our four years, so a distinction should be drawn between those who exit the education system at the end of 8th grade, and those who exit after 11 years.

    I've no clue how things are with NCLB, but I do remember those classes in which everybody got it, except Little Dim Tim, and while the teacher went over it for the fourth time, the rest of us looked around and shook our heads.

    I'm sorry you feel that way, Badtz Maru, because you may in so doing pass over hidden talent owing to your own personal bias.
    Don't let him get you down, he's already shown himself to be a stupid thieving asshole in the Garmin software thread. People like him will always take any excuse to shit on other people.

    You seem pretty smart to me, GED or not.

  22. #22
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by danceswithcats
    A fine point has been missed by some of you. Both the OP and I attended three of our four years, so a distinction should be drawn between those who exit the education system at the end of 8th grade, and those who exit after 11 years.

    I've no clue how things are with NCLB, but I do remember those classes in which everybody got it, except Little Dim Tim, and while the teacher went over it for the fourth time, the rest of us looked around and shook our heads.

    I'm sorry you feel that way, Badtz Maru, because you may in so doing pass over hidden talent owing to your own personal bias.
    I don't believe it's a flawed bias. It's a useful tool (though not the only one) for judging someone's capabilities.

    The place where I work places a high degree of importance on job stability. Before I was interviewed, the lady at the placement agency told me it was very important to them to show that you have stayed at the same jobs for long periods of times. They did not like to hire people who had one or two different jobs for every year they have been in the workforce, because usually those people either leave the job for something else or end up having to be let go. This was a problem for me because in the last 3 years before they hired me, I had worked at five different jobs. I had to have very good excuses for my recent job history because it made me look like someone who was not reliable, and they didn't want to spend several thousand dollars training someone for over two months and have them leave or get fired in a year.

    Fortunately, I had some excuses, and a past work history to show that I was not unreliable. I had worked at five jobs over the last three years, but only four jobs for the twelve years before that. I explained that one of the jobs was a temporary job with a 90 day contract, one of them was a company that laid off 2/3 of it's workers six months after hiring me (and I had a good letter of recomendation from my boss there, who cried when he told me they had to let me go two months before my baby was born). One of them I left because of a new boss who was making my job impossible for very personal reasons. One was a fly-by-night company that relied on late night advertising and let go 90% of their employees when they ran out of advertising, and the last one was a job as a temporary that I was leaving for my new job that had no chance of becoming permanent because the temporary agency I had been using had misrepresented my work history and training - I was working in an accounts payable department with no accounting experience, I learned the job quickly and they were going to keep me through the holiday season, but my supervisor let me know that they wouldn't be able to justify hiring me when they had other temporaries with years of accounting experience.

    I don't think all those excuses, good as they might have been, were worth as much as the fact that I had an average of three years per job for twelve years prior to those last few years. One has to prove that you have the stability to keep at a job, to show up regularly and do what needs to be done. I have my work experience to show that, and at this stage in my life I don't think it would matter whether I had a GED or a diploma because of that, but for people who are new to the job market, having proof that you are not one of the people who couldn't finish high school is valuable. If all you have is a GED, you may find it hard to find a job that you can stay with long enough to prove yourself, which makes it pretty sad when people drop out of high school. People frequently make mistakes when teenagers that can hinder their employment potential for their entire lives.

    Fortunately, there are ways to get a real high school diploma as an adult. Many community colleges offer programs that can get you an actual diploma, proof that you attended and passed 20 or so credits of classes instead of spending a half day taking a test. I think most employers would look favorably on someone who made that effort.

  23. #23
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by Mister Peanut
    Quote Originally posted by danceswithcats
    A fine point has been missed by some of you. Both the OP and I attended three of our four years, so a distinction should be drawn between those who exit the education system at the end of 8th grade, and those who exit after 11 years.

    I've no clue how things are with NCLB, but I do remember those classes in which everybody got it, except Little Dim Tim, and while the teacher went over it for the fourth time, the rest of us looked around and shook our heads.

    I'm sorry you feel that way, Badtz Maru, because you may in so doing pass over hidden talent owing to your own personal bias.
    Don't let him get you down, he's already shown himself to be a stupid thieving asshole in the Garmin software thread. People like him will always take any excuse to shit on other people.

    You seem pretty smart to me, GED or not.
    You should keep your flames in the proper forum, Mr. Peanut.

    And I at no point said that a GED indicates that someone is not smart, or that you have to be intelligent to graduate high school. My point is that having a GED as opposed to a high school diploma can indicate a personality type that many employers and most colleges do not want to take chances with. If you have enough brains to pass a GED test, you have enough intelligence to get a high school diploma. It just takes work.

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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by Mister Peanut
    Quote Originally posted by danceswithcats
    A fine point has been missed by some of you. Both the OP and I attended three of our four years, so a distinction should be drawn between those who exit the education system at the end of 8th grade, and those who exit after 11 years.

    I've no clue how things are with NCLB, but I do remember those classes in which everybody got it, except Little Dim Tim, and while the teacher went over it for the fourth time, the rest of us looked around and shook our heads.

    I'm sorry you feel that way, Badtz Maru, because you may in so doing pass over hidden talent owing to your own personal bias.
    Don't let him get you down, he's already shown himself to be a stupid thieving asshole in the Garmin software thread. People like him will always take any excuse to shit on other people.

    You seem pretty smart to me, GED or not.
    [modwarn:1tb653wb]Mister Peanut, insults are not permitted in this forum. If you have an issue with Badtz Maru, you may take it to The Thunderdome, where Badtz Maru will have the opportunity to defend himself. This is an official warning.[/modwarn:1tb653wb]
    There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. -- Ray Bradbury's "Coda"

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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by MsRobyn
    Quote Originally posted by Mister Peanut
    Quote Originally posted by danceswithcats
    A fine point has been missed by some of you. Both the OP and I attended three of our four years, so a distinction should be drawn between those who exit the education system at the end of 8th grade, and those who exit after 11 years.

    I've no clue how things are with NCLB, but I do remember those classes in which everybody got it, except Little Dim Tim, and while the teacher went over it for the fourth time, the rest of us looked around and shook our heads.

    I'm sorry you feel that way, Badtz Maru, because you may in so doing pass over hidden talent owing to your own personal bias.
    Don't let him get you down, he's already shown himself to be a stupid thieving asshole in the Garmin software thread. People like him will always take any excuse to shit on other people.

    You seem pretty smart to me, GED or not.
    [modwarn:d67h77gl]Mister Peanut, insults are not permitted in this forum. If you have an issue with Badtz Maru, you may take it to The Thunderdome, where Badtz Maru will have the opportunity to defend himself. This is an official warning.[/modwarn:d67h77gl]
    I'm sorry for losing my temper but I still think Badtz has been a far bigger asshole here than me. He was insulting to people with GEDs including some in this thread.

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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    [modhat:20wkrlm1]Be that as it may, he still has an opinion, and he's still entitled to defend it. Wrong or not, he's arguing a legitimate point. Ad hominem attacks, on the other hand, aren't legitimate and have no place outside the Thunderdome.[/modhat:20wkrlm1]
    There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. -- Ray Bradbury's "Coda"

  27. #27
    Oliphaunt Baldwin's avatar
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by Mister Peanut
    I'm sorry for losing my temper but I still think Badtz has been a far bigger asshole here than me. He was insulting to people with GEDs including some in this thread.
    I didn't take it as an insult. He's got a point. Like a lot of us, I was used to being the smartest kid in class (in public school) and never had to study really hard or handle a large load of homework. Maybe if I'd taken my Senior year the classes would've been advanced enough that I would have been forced to develop better study habits; maybe then I wouldn't have failed miserably in college.

    (As it is, I don't even remember what I did during those nine months. I got a part-time job, and spent a lot of time trying to keep my '67 Mustang running, but I don't know if I did any independent study.)

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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    I took college courses when I was still in high school and got decent grades in those classes, so I don't think my problem was bad study skills. I was simply bored with high school and sick of what I considered to be juvenile politics. The GED test was ridiculously easy for me, but I can see how some people might have problems with it.

    That said, I think the stigma really does come from the perception that the person who has that diploma is Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel, who can't get a decent job without it. This may be true for a lot of people, but it's certainly not true for everyone. I'm reasonably sure that what we're seeing in this thread is selection bias; most people who post here are intelligent, thoughtful people who simply had other reasons for needing or wanting a GED.

    To Badtz's point that a high school diploma is superior to a GED, I'd like to point out that there are many, many high school students who take the easiest courses they can get away with to keep their GPAs high in order to impress college admissions offices. In fact, I had classmates in many of my college classes who did that. They had ridiculously high GPAs -- and some were valedictorians or salutatorians -- but they couldn't get a grip on college because their professors wouldn't let them skate. Don't get me wrong, they're still plenty smart. They just gamed the system to the point where they had no capacity for classwork that involved higher-level thinking because they had learned that, as long as they could memorize and regurgitate the information they were fed, they would get good grades. (See Bloom's Taxonomy for the underlying theory.) So once they hit college, and they were expected to analyze, synthesize and evaluate information, they couldn't because they had never been challenged to do so, and some of them really foundered. So a high school diploma isn't all it's cracked up to me.
    There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. -- Ray Bradbury's "Coda"

  29. #29
    Elephant
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by Badtz Maru
    If you have enough brains to pass a GED test, you have enough intelligence to get a high school diploma. It just takes work.
    Actually, it takes time. The public education system is geared towards people of average to slightly-below intelligence, and the curriculum, even of the average AP class, is not remotely challenging to someone of even slightly above-average intelligence. If they spend two weeks covering material that I grasped in a couple of days, and give me a month to write a paper that I can easily toss off in a night (to a resounding "A"), what have I accomplished by sitting through that month? I wouldn't call it "work". I suppose it might prove my ability to handle boredom and frustration, but so did my crappy job at the convenience store, and at least I got paid for that.

    I'm not extolling the virtues of dropping out of high school, here. But let's not pretend that finishing high school is some sort of achievement. It doesn't necessarily mean you did the work. What it mostly means is that you put in the time. And for some people, putting in that time may not be so much a sign of commitment, as a failure of imagination.

  30. #30
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    I notice that nobody's mentioned homeschooling here yet.

    For the record, many homeschooled individuals, myself included, have GEDs because it was the only means they had for earning a diploma. You can't assume every person with a GED dropped out of school or sought a quick fix. Some homeschooled individuals with GEDs are idiots who probably struggled to pass the test, but the same can be said for high school graduates. There are a lot of studies that point to homeschooled students not being drooling morons, however.
    So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.

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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    I dropped out of high school my senior year also. I wasn't a "slacker"--I was in the top 10 in my class of over 800 students. When I quit school, I was taking physics, calculus, fifth-year french, and second-year russian, along with various other upper-level classes. I got pregnant that year (not my brightest moment, admittedly) and was told by my school that I would have to drop some of my academic classes in order to take child development and parenting classes, which they required of the pregnant girls, but not the fathers of the same babies. Ithought this ridiculous, and so I opted to quit school and get my GED. Which I did with no problem whatsoever. I never viewed myself as someone of lesser worth or lesser intelligence, or lesser ability to commit to something and follow through. I simply traded in one life path for another. Since then, I've put myself through college, graduated with a 4.0 (despite having 2 children at that time), gave the valedictorian speech, and have a successful career. I've never suffered any ill effects of having a GED, and not once do I remember feeling discriminated against because of my lack of a "proper" high school diploma when pursuing new career opportunities. Maybe I'm just lucky that way.

  32. #32
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by Diana
    Quote Originally posted by Badtz Maru
    If you have enough brains to pass a GED test, you have enough intelligence to get a high school diploma. It just takes work.
    Actually, it takes time. The public education system is geared towards people of average to slightly-below intelligence, and the curriculum, even of the average AP class, is not remotely challenging to someone of even slightly above-average intelligence. If they spend two weeks covering material that I grasped in a couple of days, and give me a month to write a paper that I can easily toss off in a night (to a resounding "A"), what have I accomplished by sitting through that month? I wouldn't call it "work". I suppose it might prove my ability to handle boredom and frustration, but so did my crappy job at the convenience store, and at least I got paid for that.

    I'm not extolling the virtues of dropping out of high school, here. But let's not pretend that finishing high school is some sort of achievement. It doesn't necessarily mean you did the work. What it mostly means is that you put in the time. And for some people, putting in that time may not be so much a sign of commitment, as a failure of imagination.
    Being able to put in time is an important skill, even if it is monotonous. I'd think more of a person with a GED who spent 4 years working at the same convenience store than a high school graduate who worked at 8 different jobs in the four years after graduation.

  33. #33
    Elephant
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Erm... wouldn't that depend if the jobs were upwardly mobile or not? Because I certainly wouldn't be more impressed with someone who spent four years as a cashier than I would with someone who took a succession of better jobs.

    "Putting in the time" is only valuable if something is being accomplished. Otherwise, it's just inertia.

  34. #34
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    I dropped out after 9th grade and somehow still managed to get jobs and eventually work a full ride to a public ivy. No place I ever worked seemed to care that I didn't have a diploma, once I put down "some college" (as in, a few classes at JC). I ended up sitting for the GED on my 25th birthday after I had already earned my AA, so I could qualify for financial aid while I finished my BA.

    Seriously, are there entry-level jobs still out there where a HS Diploma is really all that superior to a GED? ISTM that at least certification is needed for any sort of decent job, or at least good connections.

    ETA: Clarification
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  35. #35
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    I would just like to say, as someone who is responsible for interviewing and recruitment for new members of my team, that I value a bright, funny, geniune personality FAR more than I care about qualifications.

    The company I work for has an excellent reputaion for training and professional qualifications, and our MD takes this view;

    "I'd rather employ a good person I can train, than a complete arse with all the qualifications in the world".

    What's wrong with a GED or its UK equivalents? Snobs don't like it. And that's what it comes down to.
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  36. #36
    Oliphaunt Baldwin's avatar
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by eventually...
    . . . . Since then, I've put myself through college, graduated with a 4.0 (despite having 2 children at that time), gave the valedictorian speech, and have a successful career. I've never suffered any ill effects of having a GED, and not once do I remember feeling discriminated against because of my lack of a "proper" high school diploma when pursuing new career opportunities. Maybe I'm just lucky that way.
    That's not luck (except for the luck of having a good brain). If I'd worked as hard at a goal as you have, I wouldn't have failed at everything (GED or not).

  37. #37
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Knowing the stigma surrounding a GED when my kid didn't graduate last year I told him flat out he could choose to go the hard path or go back to school and finish. I had him talk to my youngest brother who also dropped out before finishing (6 months before finishing!) who said he'd kick his a** if he didn't go back, knowing how difficult it could be for someone who isn't the book learning type.

    Growing up in an alcoholic family and dealing with all the BS that comes with that along with not understanding what schooling has to do with real life my brother dropped out. He never touched drugs or alcohol instead took his rage out with driving and lots of tickets etc. until he finally matured enough to knock it off. He went back to school and now is IT for a company. I come from a long line of slow maturing men (usually around 28 they finally grow up) so seeing this in my kid I sorta' understood it.

    We then left it up to him and he went back and finished on his own. We are very proud of him.
    Boldly going nowhere.

  38. #38
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by Baldwin
    Quote Originally posted by eventually...
    . . . . Since then, I've put myself through college, graduated with a 4.0 (despite having 2 children at that time), gave the valedictorian speech, and have a successful career. I've never suffered any ill effects of having a GED, and not once do I remember feeling discriminated against because of my lack of a "proper" high school diploma when pursuing new career opportunities. Maybe I'm just lucky that way.
    That's not luck (except for the luck of having a good brain). If I'd worked as hard at a goal as you have, I wouldn't have failed at everything (GED or not).
    Exactly! Some just are not test and book learning people. Some need time and maturity. Some of the smartest people I know aren't "educated". Oftentimes all education does is quash a brilliant mind.
    Boldly going nowhere.

  39. #39
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    My middle daughter just turned 18. I pulled her out of public school just before she started 5th grade, and homeschooled her. Here in MD, homeschoolers are subject to twice-yearly reviews of the curriculum and samples of the child's school work, but not diploma or equivalent is offered; they have to take the GED. We chose to skip the whole GED thing and put her straight into community college. She has attended community college, quite successfully, for the past two years. However, this past semester, we tried to enroll her full-time instead of part-time and were told she could not enroll full-time without a HS diploma or GED. So she will take her GED this summer, pass with flying colors, and go to college full-time next year.

    She is a very bright kid, very persistent, willing to work hard. I pulled her out of school because she simply wasn't thriving there. She is very ADD, and the only way to deal with it in public school was medication. She did much better in a homeschool environment, where she could use alternative coping mechanisms for her ADD (she's slightly OCD, as well).

    However, I cannot imagine that once she has a college degree, any employer will give one shit about whether she graduated high school, or had a GED.
    Everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end.

  40. #40
    my god, he's full of stars... OneCentStamp's avatar
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by norinew
    However, I cannot imagine that once she has a college degree, any employer will give one shit about whether she graduated high school, or had a GED.
    As someone who does a lot of hiring, I would agree with you completely here. And I think this probably holds true throughout all levels of education; for example, once you have your law degree from Harvard, nobody is going to care that you got your bachelor's from XYZ State, let alone that you had to take freshman algebra twice while you were there.
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  41. #41
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: What's wrong with getting a GED?

    Quote Originally posted by OneCentStamp
    Quote Originally posted by norinew
    However, I cannot imagine that once she has a college degree, any employer will give one shit about whether she graduated high school, or had a GED.
    As someone who does a lot of hiring, I would agree with you completely here. And I think this probably holds true throughout all levels of education; for example, once you have your law degree from Harvard, nobody is going to care that you got your bachelor's from XYZ State, let alone that you had to take freshman algebra twice while you were there.
    That was my general line of thinking, thanks for backing it up for me! I never went to college (back then, it wasn't really "expected" of you), and my hubby only went for two years. Neither of us has ever had a job that entailed high-end hiring, so I was really just guessing.
    Everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end.

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    I kinda disagree with you Badtz Maru because I don't think that people are labeled differently just because they have a HS Diploma or a GED. But at the same time I undserstand where your coming with this but you can't say that some people aren't capable enough to have a successful life just because they have a GED. I'm currently in HS now (11th grade) and it honestly bore's me and I want to get out and get my GED so I can live on with my life. I want to go to college to be a computer programmer, I have a really stronge mindset about it and I have support from my family and friends telling me that that's what I should do because I like learning about that stuff. I don't really like going to school because now-a-days theirs a lot of drama and I've had a couple teachers that just don't care and don't help when I really need it. My mom took my out of school not that long ago an I have been doing some HS courses online, but even that is getting boring to me. Like I said I just want to get my GED and continue on my life learning to be a computer programmer.

    Any advice or tips from anyone on what I should do?? Or advice is general?
    Last edited by PB4l91; 05 Dec 2012 at 05:58 AM.

  43. #43
    Member Elendil's Heir's avatar
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    Nothing's wrong with it. When I put people on probation in my court, I often order them to earn their GED if they don't already have a high school diploma. An education can make a big difference in quality of life and ability to get a good job.

  44. #44
    Wanna cuddle? RabbitMage's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by PB4l91 View post
    Any advice or tips from anyone on what I should do?? Or advice is general?
    Welcome to Mello, first of all!

    What are you studying right now? This decision can be a personal one, but there area few things to consider.

    Once you get into college, you pay for everything. Unless you end up with generous financial aid you'll be paying for the units you take, the textbooks you need, and the additional supplies. My textbooks alone this past semester were over $600. If not for the aforementioned generous financial aid, I couldn't afford to go.

    Being homeschooled you may be paying for your courses anyway, but check with your local community college and compare the expenses. In addition, you should look up the general ed requirements and prerequisites for the classes you need. Are there any of those you can knock off in your senior year? Do it. Trust me. I know it's a pain, but ask me what it's like spinning your wheels for three years because you need to take remedial math courses you should have taken and passed in high school. Bad Rabbitmage, bad!

    There is nothing wrong with getting a GED, but sticking with that last year of high school may make your life easier.

  45. #45
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    Quote Originally posted by RabbitMage View post
    Quote Originally posted by PB4l91 View post
    Any advice or tips from anyone on what I should do?? Or advice is general?
    Welcome to Mello, first of all!

    What are you studying right now? This decision can be a personal one, but there area few things to consider.

    Once you get into college, you pay for everything. Unless you end up with generous financial aid you'll be paying for the units you take, the textbooks you need, and the additional supplies. My textbooks alone this past semester were over $600. If not for the aforementioned generous financial aid, I couldn't afford to go.

    Being homeschooled you may be paying for your courses anyway, but check with your local community college and compare the expenses. In addition, you should look up the general ed requirements and prerequisites for the classes you need. Are there any of those you can knock off in your senior year? Do it. Trust me. I know it's a pain, but ask me what it's like spinning your wheels for three years because you need to take remedial math courses you should have taken and passed in high school. Bad Rabbitmage, bad!

    There is nothing wrong with getting a GED, but sticking with that last year of high school may make your life easier.
    I understand that sticking with the year year will make things easier but it's the fact that I'm not really doing much throughout everyday.. I'm stuck at home with my mom all day, I sleep till like 2 because theirs nothing to do in the house anyways and when I get up all I have to do it my school work on my computer. But I feel that if I just got my GED now then I can start some college classes at 17 ( currently 16 now ) and get a head start on my career path

  46. #46
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    Do you have a GED prep book or program? If you do--or can get one from the library--go through it and see how comfortable you are with the material. Take the practice tests and all of that. If you feel like you're just drifting with nothing to do and you're ready for the test, then I don't see what good there is in not taking it, honestly.

    But if you find you're not as comfortable with the practice tests as you like, that can be something to work on and focus on, instead of feeling like the work you're doing now is pointless.

    Just remember that college is going to be a lot different from being home-schooled. I made that leap and was surprised by just how nervous I was at first. Having to follow someone else's lead can be a bit of an adjustment. Same with the schedule. Good luck!
    So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.

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