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GEDs are the red-headed stepchildren of diplomas. To me they scream "unmotivated slacker".
Wow judgemental. In High School you can slide by unnoticed. With the GED you actually have to know the material. Do you know that 65% of all High School Seniors cannot pass the GED test? I commend anyone who goes and gets their GED. Sometimes in life we all are not givin the opportunity to get to finish school. Also to TC, why would you or your mother care what other people think about you? F THEM. It's your life, not theirs.
Stay in school and get your High School Diploma the reason that High School Diploma's are better are because you know more then someone whom has a GED.
Let me add my son has a High School Diploma my other two sister boy's didn't finish High School nor do they have a GED. My son still has a job even tho the unemployment rate is high right now. I think this makes a huge difference it may not matter by the time you have your education but it could matter when later on in life. Stay in School and get that Diploma!!!!!
NOT TRUE. Did you know that 65% of all High School Seniors cannot pass the GED test? Many people with a high school diploma don't finish and dont even attend college. I believe that the purpose of a GED is to continue your education afterwards. There is no point in just getting a GED and not doing anything afterwards. A GED is really a ticket to a community college and beyond. ALSO, it is a EQUIVALENT to a HSD therefore it has NOTHING to do with who is smarter than who. Also, the unemployment rate is high so I am sure your son has a job, yet many other HSD holders could have had that job he is in. He was just in the right place at the right time considering MANY people are unemployed regardless if they have a diploma, GED, or none at all.
Wow how judgemental do any of you consider or have considered that maybe some mature kids in high school get tired of the crap they have to put up with from other kids and teachers ? not downing teachers but I have seen teachers make fun of kids in high school and they dont stop the teasing cause the kids are not wearing ambercrombie and fitch . I think that alot of kids come from low income families and they just get simply tired of mean imature brats who have silver spoons hanging out their mouths that go for those high school diplomas and guess what I venture to say they peak in high school and turn out to be used car salesmen . Frankly im on the side that says GED cause you actually have to know the matierial . kuddos to the previous poster as well .
If your going to start College, than it doesn't matter. Do 2 years at community college, get good grades, than transfer to a good 4yr. school. I know in St. Louis, people that attend STLCC can go on to transfer to SLU, UMSL and a variety of other great schools here locally. Once you have a Bachelors, people won't even ask about High School.
True. It doesn't make a damn whether you have a GED or Diploma if you're planning on attending college afterwards. Employers don't care what you did in high school. The next 4-6 years after high school is where is counts.
High School graduates proved they could stick it out and finish High School.
Those who passed the GED proved they could learn the material and pass the test.
How fast can you learn? How high a score would you get if you went in and took the test today?
Here's what I would do: Go take the GED pre-test and see what score you get. If you have been diligent and actually learned the material for your freshman-junior years, you should have reasonably high scores. If you think your scores are high enough, go ahead and take the GED. If your scores are average or below, it will be easier to graduate than to pass the GED.
Colleges that accept GED will look at your GED scores when you apply. Some require higher than passing scores.
When you are 50 years old it isn't gonna matter. And once you get into college and get a degree, it won't matter. It's like asking a PhD if they graduated high school or if they have an associates or bachelors..... doesn't even matter.
But, just starting out- it does matter.
Once you get your credits to graduate- just hang in. And get into a community college like you are planning and stick to it...don't quit, don't move. You'll find other communtiy colleges won't accept the credits from another community college (doesn't make sense but that's the way it is).
I am 50 yo and you're right--it doesn't matter any more that I dropped out of high school and got my GED, since I managed to get my college degree from Washington University. They didn't let me in right away, but a good state U did.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kele
Yet, once you get into college, they really don't matter.
I have a GED. I graduated with my B.A. in Anthro with a 3.93 and was accepted into a prestigious Archaeology graduate program. Once you prove you can do the work in a four-year, that GED fades right into the background.
Life circumstances prevented me from finishing high school--yet pursuing a GED (they're not as easy to obtain as they used to be) shows that you're at least motivated enough NOT to remain a high school drop-out and for me, it was the beginning of my educational career.
Again, a GED that is not followed up by higher education has less worth than a high school diploma, but when you go right on to college, it no longer matters. Just don't drop out of college.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CONTRAGALUGA
Wow judgemental. In High School you can slide by unnoticed. With the GED you actually have to know the material. Do you know that 65% of all High School Seniors cannot pass the GED test? I commend anyone who goes and gets their GED. Sometimes in life we all are not givin the opportunity to get to finish school. Also to TC, why would you or your mother care what other people think about you? F THEM. It's your life, not theirs.
When I was an incoming freshman in the Dean's office at 18, my mother asked him if my GED bothered him. He said it did not b/c it showed that I actually knew the material, since it's so easy to skate thru w/o even being able to read or do basic arithmetic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by IdahoMormon
Here's what I would do: Go take the GED pre-test and see what score you get. If you have been diligent and actually learned the material for your freshman-junior years, you should have reasonably high scores. If you think your scores are high enough, go ahead and take the GED. If your scores are average or below, it will be easier to graduate than to pass the GED.
Colleges that accept GED will look at your GED scores when you apply. Some require higher than passing scores.
I totally agree with this. Whenever one of our students wants to drop out I fix them with a steely gaze and snarl, "How're your reading skills?" Because the fact is that 4/5 of the test is reading skills. Even the science portion is mostly reading. Or was in the late 70's though I doubt that they've made it any easier. Fortunately for me I'm a very good reader and made a good score on the 4/5 that was reading and a passable score on the algebra that I had to teach myself before the test. It was not easy. (I might add that our students are sp.ed. so it would be a really bad idea for them to drop out.)
Years later I found out that I had a raging case of ADD without the H, which was why I was not able to stick it out in high school but college agreed with me a lot better. People have judged me my entire life for the symptoms of this and even now some of you will accuse me of making excuses, but until 5 yrs ago I didn't even know I had an excuse. So be it. I'm at peace with it now and have no regrets about the GED. Most people travel the well traveled road of life and some of us have to skip off on all the side paths. The only reason I'm even bringing this up is b/c there are many reasons people don't stick it out in high school, and those with AD/HD often do drop out but many of us return to school and get our college degree.
I'm a high school graduate and a Senior in college. I haven't held a paying job since I started college, because I haven't been able to find one that fits my hours. My friend, on the other hand, is a high school dropout with a GED. She's worked very hard to try and put herself through college, and she is succeeding. Plus, she's building a strong resume, and she won't have to worry about repaying a lot of student loans, like I will.
A word of caution, though, if you plan to take the GED route, make sure you brush up on your math. You may not need it to take the GED, but you will need it for the SAT/ACT and basic college course work. I would recommend you study through trigonometry, at least. Also, make sure you understand college level vocabulary and basic grammar and spelling rules. Good luck.
This is an old thread. Note the date on the first post -- The OP has already made his choice. But in case anyone else is facing a similar choice, here's another point to consider: HS is free, and what you don't learn in HS, you'll have to pay to learn at CC (unless you live in a district with dual enrollment).
When you enter CC, you'll have to take placement tests in English and math. I don't know how tough the GED test is these days, but I would not assume that passing the GED automatically means you won't get placed into remedial math or English -- and remedial courses don't count toward your college degree, so you want to make sure you don't have to take them.
But even if you are confident that you won't have to take remedial classes, if you just get your GED and skip your senior year of HS, you'll be missing a chance to get farther along in your studies for free. For example, many majors require math beyond Algebra 2. If you can get trigonometry out of the way in HS for free, why not do so?
Here's another way to look at it. If you're a good student, then you should stay in HS and take advanced courses like calculus or AP English that will give you a head start when you do get to college. If you're a poor or mediocre student, then you should take that final year in HS and try to improve while you can still do it at public expense.
With all that said, you may still have good reasons for wanting to get the GED and skip senior year, e.g., if there are serious problems with violence at your school, or the quality of instruction is so poor that you can learn more studying on your own. But barring special circumstances like those, you should stay and finish HS.
My daughter got her GED, is going to community college and does way better than she ever did in high school. Everyone is different, it depends on how independent you are. My daughter felt to mature for high school in her junior year so she skipped it and moved on. Nobody is going to ask you were you started, they are only going to ask you were you got your degree. This is why a lot of people are opting to get there basic credits at a community college for cheap and then going on to a four year University. No biggy, just talk to a community college and they will point you in the right direction.
The last year of high school might be free, if you don't have money, but you will have to pay for college eventually, so it really won't matter.
The OP has long since made his/her choice, but for anyone else who is reading this thread because they're considering the same options, here's something else to think about.
Are your parents willing to assist you with tuition and expenses if you drop out of highschool and head straight to a community college? Unless you're an emancipated minor, you parents' income will be factored into your financial aid eligibility, which could make it tougher for you to afford school. Contributing to your own tuition costs and potentially paying for your own textbooks can take a big bite out of whatever income you'll be earning at work - which probably won't be much since you'll be applying with a GED. To get most kinds of financial aid you have to take at least 6 credits per semester, and if you take out student loans, you'll lose precious months from your repayment grace period (or even have to start making payments) if you have to take a break from school or fall below 6 credits for any reason. Are you ready for all that extra responsibility?
I quit highschool at 16, got my GED, and went straight to community college. My parents were willing to sign the paperwork for me to quit school, but they warned me that they were not going to assist me financially because I had made a choice I knew darn well was not ideal. I had a full-time retail job, so I thought I was going to be fine, but I soon discovered that my parents' incomes made me ineligible for federal grant money or need-based loans - even if I didn't live at home with them (and I couldn't afford not to live with them, because I had to pay for school). After a couple of semesters I had to quit, and it took a few years before I could go back. In the interim, all I had was a GED and a few college credits, which wasn't enough to get me a decent job with decent pay. I've heard nearly identical stories from many an adult student, and nearly all of us wish that we'd finished high school and had that extra year or so before we had to deal full time with the real world. We all agree that back then we didn't fully comprehend what it meant that there's no going back once you're out there.
My advice: If you really can't stand school or absolutely need to work, look into attending a free online public high school (many states have these now) so you can graduate with a regular diploma:
Last edited by sautille42; 09-04-2010 at 05:41 PM..
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