GED = H.S. Diploma? NOT!

While surfing the website for the Society for Human Resources Management, I came across a little survey they did. It shows that 90% of respondents say they hire GED holders; 4% said no; 6% said they didn't know.

Nonscientific, but overwhelming anyway. Guess I'll change my dubious view of the value of a GED to one of cautious support.

http://www.shrm.org/SHRM-Survey/default.asp?page=gedcredentials.htm

 

Re: Re: GED = H.S. Diploma? NOT!

Hi Darren - I understand your point of view and don't entirely disagree. I think, however, that it would be important to point out that we are living in a time/place where a swing to the conservative side has occurred. Because of this, it is those people that you referenced (or those with similar views) that are making policy and law. Because of this it would seem that dismissing these views in an offhand manner would be rather shortsighted and almost certainly counterproductive.
Jack

 

any way you look at it, it's a mess

All I know about this is the Massachusetts aspect, and even then I'm a bit shakey. Once upon a time you could sit in a Massachusetts High School classroom and, without doing too much, get your diploma. If you showed up every day and didn't cause any problems, you would likely be promoted from grade to grade, and eventually graduated, regardless of how much you had actually learned. I don't know this for a fact but I have assumed that this was more or less true in most places in this country. If, for whatever reason, you were not in school and chose to get your GED (which has always been referred to a "high school equivalency," then you had to put your butt in a chair for a series of exams during which you had to prove that you actually knew something. Now I don't know what the standards might be for grading those exams, but the rumor was that they were not easy to pass. Kids could not go in cold and pass these exams. "Back in the day" the GED was considered to be a legitimate H.S. equivalency. Here's the update: now, in Massachusetts, they have this proficiency exam known as the MCAS (don't ask me what it stands for) You have to pass this test in 10th grade or you don't graduate. period. It doesn't matter what grades you get in your courses, if you don't pass this test you don't get your diploma. Here's the kicker: if you don't pass the test you are NOT eligible for admission to a state university. As you can guess, there is much controversy around this subject but that is the current state of affairs here in the Bay State.
Jack

 

The American Council on Education, the providers/makers of the G.E.D., do a rather interesting experiment each year. They go out and give the G.E.D. test to a group of high school seniors that are preparing to graduate. These are students who will definitely graduate and almost have diploma in hand.

Each year about 30% fail the G.E.D.




Tom Nixon

 

Re: any way you look at it, it's a mess

MCAS=Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. You can find out more than you probably care to know here.

That bastion of higher education, Cambridge, decided recently that they would award HS diplomas regardless of MCAS scores, and the Mass. Department of Education said those diplomas would be "worthless". Always interesting around here.


Bruce