Many people hear GED and automatically think “high school dropout.” The GED seems to have this stigma of less than a high school diploma certification; which is for those who “weren’t smart enough” to earn their high school diploma. This is an unfair stereotype of the GED. There are so many things wrong with these assumptions that I don’t even know where to start. We have to start somewhere, so let’s talk about the idea of ”not smart enough.”
Most students don’t drop out of school because they aren’t smart enough to complete the course work. There are hundreds of different reasons why students fall behind or drop out of school; from family catastrophes, to pregnancies, through health problems. Many of the reasons result from poor decisions on the student’s part, but many times the reasons are out of the student’s control. Regardless, one of the problems is that, relatively speaking, there is a very short window to complete your high school diploma and graduate with your class. Sometimes a decision can ruin a student’s chance of graduating with that diploma, and it may have nothing to do with the student’s academic performance. Bad decisions often become learning experiences for the student, perhaps even changing her life for the better. But on the downside, the window for them to earn their high school diploma has passed.
Thank God for the GED. It is a second chance and should not be underestimated. In fact, passing the GED should be viewed as an admirable achievement. Because of the “dropout” stigma, it seems to be widely believed that the GED is easy and that anyone can pass the test. What many people don’t know is that the GED test has been standardized with high school seniors. This means that they administered the test to high school seniors and adjusted the passing scores so that if you pass the GED, you will score as high as or higher than 60% of high school seniors. high school. That means 40% of high school seniors would fail the GED.
There are many ways to “game the system” in public schools. There are many students who find ways to “get ahead” in school, earning credits without learning much. In a place where extra credit, group projects, and grade inflation run rampant, it’s a reality that someone with a high school diploma knows far less than someone with a GED. In fact, that reality is made abundantly clear with 40% of high school seniors failing to pass the GED. At least when someone has a GED you know that she has some knowledge. There is no extra credit on the GED. The GED is never a group project, and there is definitely no grade inflation on the GED. It is a high-stakes test that is strictly supervised and has iron-clad integrity. When you see someone with a GED certification, you know exactly what they accomplished and you know it was all of them. Not extra credit, not a group, not a teacher who helped them.
They did it. It’s someone you want to hire. It’s someone you want to come to your university.
There are many sites that can help you prepare for the GED online. Many communities have adult education programs that can help prepare people for the GED. There are many books that can also help prepare people for the GED. Whatever the method of preparation, if you don’t have your high school diploma, consider taking the GED. It is not a second class high school diploma. It is a legitimate certification that is a worthwhile effort!