GED's **Why I'm asking post 36**

[tasha99]

Once again, what all your friends and family members went on to do with their lives has nothing at all to do with the quality of a GED. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

This is basic logic. This isn't linear math or anything.

Nothing that any of you has said has anything at all to do with GEDs. It's all stories about friends and relatives.

If you tell me Aunt Sadie was an excellent seamstress, that won't have anything to do with the quality of a GED, either.

My mom died a few weeks ago and she had a diploma. Does that mean that diplomas lead to death? No. Just like your genius GED-receiving relatives don't have anything to do with the quality of GEDs.

If you happened to have taken a Logic course, sit down and start writing and you'll quickly see that none of you has said anything that proves the point you all are trying to make.

By your logic, a HS diploma doesn't mean anything either. A HS diploma can reflect a completely different quality of education from one school to the next; it's the same with the GED. Both just say a minimum standard has been met, and to those of us who are older, that standard is woefully low. Whether you get a GED or a diploma, it's what you do afterward that matters.

 

[momrek06]

The only thing I know about GED'S is that some colleges do not take GED'S.

If there is a certain college you think T would love to attend, if not NOW but even down the road...check and make sure whether or not they require a high school diploma.

Good luck to you and your family! You have allot going on right now!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

So, with all that info, how would you as a parent handle that? Would you feel as if you are short-changing their future?

Has he taken the SAT's?

 

[CathrynRose]

So, with all that info, how would you as a parent handle that? Would you feel as if you are short-changing their future?

My son's last year of high school - I'd be lying if I said it was a dream - it sucked. He never wanted to go, and when he did it was done half-butt.

I encouraged him to just drop out and get his GED. The thought of him failing classes and having to do another year was just silly to me. He would'nt put any effort into an additional year, either.

Long story short - he graduated. Don't ask me how. It's one of those mysteries like where is Jimmy Hoffa, as far as I'm concerned.

That also being said - I don't have a GED nor did I finish High School. (I had my son that year) I do very, very well in my career - and it's not entry level. I think that if you, with a HS Diploma, GED or nothing at all, apply yourself, you will do well. KWIM?

I'd still make him get his GED though, because many places require one or the other.

 

[jenfur]

Once again, what all your friends and family members went on to do with their lives has nothing at all to do with the quality of a GED. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

This is basic logic. This isn't linear math or anything.

Nothing that any of you has said has anything at all to do with GEDs. It's all stories about friends and relatives.

If you tell me Aunt Sadie was an excellent seamstress, that won't have anything to do with the quality of a GED, either.

My mom died a few weeks ago and she had a diploma. Does that mean that diplomas lead to death? No. Just like your genius GED-receiving relatives don't have anything to do with the quality of GEDs.

If you happened to have taken a Logic course, sit down and start writing and you'll quickly see that none of you has said anything that proves the point you all are trying to make.

Just as a logic class would show that you can't make what you are saying true simply by making declarative statements. Its all subjective. Both are just fine, it matters more what you choose to do with your diploma or GED. Many homeschool students (many who get a far superior education than what is provided in public high schools) have to get GEDs in order to move on to college.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

The difference between an HSD and a GED is trivial compared with the difference between either an a college degree. The earnings gap between high school grads and people with bachelors degrees is huge and has grown through most of my lifetime.

There was a dateline (or maybe 20/20) special that said the annual gap is less than 3k.... I guess it depends on the occupation of course, but unless you're going big in college, it may not be worth the expense if you're doing it just to make more cash.

 

[CathrynRose]

There was a dateline (or maybe 20/20) special that said the annual gap is less than 3k.... I guess it depends on the occupation of course, but unless you're going big in college, it may not be worth the expense if you're doing it just to make more cash.

Let me also just put out there (and I may be the exception, not the rule) I make as much as my college degree counter parts, and more than a few of them.

My ex-husband has his GED and he makes excelllllllent money. Excellent. And he actually didn't get that until he was maybe 25-ish? And it was because he was offered a position that required HS Diploma or GED.

The GED test is long (here in Illinois, it's 10 hours! - part of the reason I have procrastinated about it..... for 20 years.... ) I would imagine a test that long, would be even more in depth than the classes a student takes in HS, anyways. KWIM?

And if he's choosing to go to College after that, most jobs would be looking at his College career - not high school.

 

[lisajl]

My DD-23 has her GED. She was home schooled for a while and this was the best way for her to "Graduate". She is in her third year at OSU (she started at 19-almost 20). I see no problems with a GED. What I see problems with is not finishing something. If he gets his GED, he will be finished with "high school".

 

[lovepurple]

Have you thought about an online high school? My son finished his senior year after we moved through an accredited online high school and had no problem getting in to college. We did have to pay tuition so it was not a free option.
I don't think the stigma is there like it used to be in regards to a GED.

 

[RitaZ.]

OP, check out Florida Virtual School (flvs.net).

 

[bumbershoot]

OP, are you sure he can't be on his own in FL? I went off to college at 17, my mom got married at 17, my grandma left home at 17 (I think she got married then but I'm not sure). If he gets his GED he'd be off in the workforce or college, still at 17, and could possibly be on his own...what's the difference?

If it's a legal thing maybe your mom could go? Maybe your mom could stay at your house and you could go? Do you have another adult relative that could go and stay with him?

Someone mentioned that some colleges don't accept GEDs...I just don't know what colleges those might be...

I'm looking at Harvard's application right now, and there is a spot to check off if you didn't graduate but got a GED, and they want the scores. So if Harvard will accept a student who got a GED...not sure I'd want to go to a college that was twitchy about it...

 

[snarlingcoyote]

The only thing I know about GED'S is that some colleges do not take GED'S.

If there is a certain college you think T would love to attend, if not NOW but even down the road...check and make sure whether or not they require a high school diploma.

Good luck to you and your family! You have allot going on right now!

There are usually ways around admissions requirements unless the school is highly selective.

 

[momrek06]

There are usually ways around admissions requirements unless the school is highly selective.

Both my DS' went to a very popular Catholic college in the Northeast. That required a high school diploma. I c&p this from their website.

Admissions Requirements
High school completion requirement: High school diploma is required and GED is not accepted
General college-preparatory program: Required

I just wanted the OP to know that if T wanted a particular college...one that he would like to go to in the future, make sure they check out the Admission Requirements.

 

[barkley]

op-you might want to find out if either state you are looking at offers an alternative to the ged and diploma routes. dh did'nt graduate from high school nor did he receive a ged-he tested for his state's "high school proficiency" certification. it has always been accepted (employment and multiple colleges in different states) on the identical basis as a high school diploma.

someone else mentioned on-line high school which might be a good resource-one other thing to check out is weather either state offers an on-line combo program that will fullfill the student's high school graduation requirements while at the same time earn college credits. in our state it's called "running start" and kids can either take the classes on college campuses or on-line. the tuition is free but the text books are not included (still a tremendous bargain given the cost of college tuition).

 

[NHdisneylover]

Thanks for all the replies. Of course there is a reason for asking.
This may be long and confusing so bear with me.

My son T is 17. He started last year as a junior in HS. His schedule had a couple open periods in it so we had it changed to add some classes in. When he met with his guidance counselor it was determined by adding 1 1/2 classes he would have enough credits to graduate a year early. We initially said no but then my husband got a job offer in Florida. This company had been pursuing him for 2 years and we always said no because we didn't want to have to move the kids out of their HS.
So, since T could graduate a year early hubby took the job and T and I stayed behind for him to finish school and to sell the house.

Well, T failed 2 of his classes. They couldn't be made up over summer school so he reverted back to junior status and is now starting school in the fall as a senior, which is where he should be.

School in FL starts the end of August and it's not looking good to being there in time. My husband is already living there but is now working up in MD for a couple months so T can't go to FL wit nobody there. We don't want to leave the house up north empty so I can't go to FL right now.

He can't really start school in NH and then transfer to FL because the requirements are so different we wouldn't be able to carry the proper things over.

My mom had suggested going for his GED but I don't (didn't) want to do that to him. It would make me feel I failed him as a parent and we are putting our own needs/wants before him and his education.

Now T is not a great student and really could care less about school "stuff". He just wants to graduate and be done with it. He's asked before about just ditching school and getting his GED. Of course I've always nixed that one.

But now with all this school mess coming to a head and only about 5-6 weeks to figure it all out I'm starting to think about it. But like I said I feel like I am short-changing him by giving him that option (which I know he would take). At this time he has no plans to go to college right away. He does want to go, juts not now.

So, with all that info, how would you as a parent handle that? Would you feel as if you are short-changing their future?

OP--are the classes your son needs available through the New Hampshire Virtual Learning Academy Charter School? This is a PUBLIC (free to NH residents) charter school for kids in New Hampshire and everything is done online (and with a few phone calls with teachers). DD took three classes through them last year (before we left New Hampshire) and it was a good experience. Lots of kids in her classe were older and taking just one or two things they still needed to graduate. One nice thing is if you sell your place and move before he finished the course he could finish up from Florida. Also, he is free to work at a faster pace and finish sooner. The website is www.vlacs.org

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Both my DS' went to a very popular Catholic college in the Northeast. That required a high school diploma. I c&p this from their website.

Admissions Requirements
High school completion requirement: High school diploma is required and GED is not accepted
General college-preparatory program: Required

I just wanted the OP to know that if T wanted a particular college...one that he would like to go to in the future, make sure they check out the Admission Requirements.

Also add the SAT/ACT to that. I would take a practice test from a book if he has not taken it to see where he sits education-wise for college if that is a possible goal.

For example if your son wants to go to college and he is lacking a few classes in order to do well to get into school with GED/SAT score, then figuring out how to sign up for FL classes is the way to go.

If your DH already lives there, it may be possible to get your son into a school there.

Then you might qualify for things upon his graduation with the state of FL.

You ask what I would do? I would move down there and make sure he finishes school with a HS diploma. Everything else would be secondary to me. But that is something that I find very important.

You never know until you try what you can do with the FL classes until you dig into it.

We moved my dd's SR year and she was able to graduate in half a semester.

Might not work out but I would explore every possibilty first.

 

[DisnyMama]

My DS just turned 18 and also just got his GED. He was always a good student, grades were A's and B's and he also took AP classes. However, he only got as far, officially as the middle of his Junior year of high school and then we had to officially withdraw him from school. We then tried an online school but it just didn't work out. The reason why everything fell apart and he ended up getting his GED was due to being hospitalized 3 times for migraines and in and out of the ER for the migraines over a two and half year period causing him to miss too much school. This also caused major stress between DS and his estranged father and just made things worse which is one of the reasons we moved back to California from Texas. When we got back to CA. DS gave regular high school one last chance and so we enrolled him last January but he just couldn't deal with being a year and a hald behind and wanted to move on to college. I couldn't blame him so he studied for the GED and passed the first time and is registered to start community college next month.
As far as him taking the easy way out, he took the college math and english placement tests and tested very well. I hate to say it but he is smarter than me. We watch Jeopardy every night and it blows me away at how much he knows. In a few years he is going to try out for the show. I am just very thankful that the GED program is in place.

 

[luvsJack]

Someone mentioned that some colleges don't accept GEDs...I just don't know what colleges those might be...

I'm looking at Harvard's application right now, and there is a spot to check off if you didn't graduate but got a GED, and they want the scores. So if Harvard will accept a student who got a GED...not sure I'd want to go to a college that was twitchy about it...

I was wondering about this part too. Most colleges take non-traditional students and a large number of non-traditional students (especially older men) have GED's. Most, if not all will ask if you got a GED or HS diploma; and all will have to have a copy of the scores. But I can't imagine who wouldn't take the GED. Maybe there are some that if you have a GED require that the student get so many hours at the community college level first? If that is it, its not a bad idea anyway if he is going to go soon, considering his age.

OP, before you decide on an online route rather than GED; check with your state department of education and make sure the online diploma is the same as a regular HS diploma and then check with the state he thinks he will attend college in and make sure they recognize it too. We have had students try to come to community college with hs diplomas/transcripts that they believed to be regular diplomas from what they believed to be accredited schools (and some of these were even actual brick and mortar schools not online) and we had to send them over to Adult Ed. to get their GED. Non-accredited HS's are not recognized and what is considered accredited by one entity is not necessarily recognized by another.

In all reality, though I don't know that I would spend my money on tuition for hs. I think I would go with the GED and then save that money for college.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Luvsjack what it will boil down to is how well you score on the SAT/ACT. You will need a minimum score with most colleges.

There are colleges that don't require a SAT/ACT score as well. You can google that to find out.

Interestingly our Community College only required that you pass the english/math proficiency tests to get into the school.

 

[luvsJack]

Luvsjack what it will boil down to is how well you score on the SAT/ACT. You will need a minimum score with most colleges.

There are colleges that don't require a SAT/ACT score as well. You can google that to find out.

Interestingly our Community College only required that you pass the english/math proficiency tests to get into the school.

You are correct those test scores are what matter the most. We require that either they have the ACT and certain sub-scores to go into college credit classes or the student has to take developmental classes (this is how they can enter without an ACT score) which are not for college credit. I might add that we have had students with very high composite ACT (students in ms don't usually take the SATs), but a low sub-score in some area and they have to take a developmental class in that area. For instance a student had a 26 overall (fairly high, I think 32 is perfect score), but he had a low sub-score in math (high scores in other areas) so he could not go into College Alg. He was required to take two developmental math classes that did not count toward graduation.

So, with a hs age student--if he takes the ACT (or SAT, I just don't know anything about how they are scored) and makes a low overall score or a low sub-score then it would probably be to his benefit to take some high school classes in that subject area and cheaper too.

In that case, online classes (accredited or not) would be beneficial. Simply because they would help him up his test scores.


The state university closest to our campus will look at a new student's (right out of hs, hasn't attended community college) scores and if they are low in a subject area, will send them to us for a class or two in that subject. College Algebra is College Algebra regardless but they feel that the smaller classes will benefit someone that doesn't score well in math on the ACT. So, if he wants to go straight to a university; there again, he should go ahead and take those tests to see where he stands.