**TM** "snuck in" while I was writing this response. I am not familiar with the study she cites but her summary doesn't seem inconsistent with what I am trying to say.
It seems that the answer to a lot of hard questions that is becoming popular is....it depends....
First there is the issue of the education itself. Whether or not anything is lost by leaving high school depends on what is offered in the school and what the student is doing with the opportunity. My easy child got a VERY good education in high school because she attended a large suburban school where "everyone" goes to college and a zillion AP courses are offered. In addition, she did all the required work and more. I have the feeling--but of course can't prove it--that she could have passed the GED anytime after her freshman year (if she had not been barred by age in IL.) So had she not finished high school--an EDUCATION of worth would have been lost.
However, if a student attends a mediocre to poor high school, is unmotivated, and is taking a lot of flack for behavior--alternating between being truant and ISS, then leaving and getting a GED may be a good plan.
There are, of course, some students who attend very fine schools and are not motivated. My daughter had a diaper friend (also Korean) who was in the same grade until this girl was "pushed out" into evening school where it was all computer driven. This was a horrible plan because the girl had become a depressed, withdrawn adolescent who zipped through high school and graduated a year ahead of my daughter. Her mother was furious bec. the school said this diploma was equivalent to a regular diploma: first, it wasn't regarded that way by four year colleges AND what one learns via computer in a depressed state is not exactly well-rounded or enriching. So this child, who had had a really bright academic future, ended up poorly EDUCATED in comparison to what could have been if different decisions had been made. (The parent is the most passive of all my acquaintances so that this would have gone unchallenged by her until it was too late really didn't surprise me.)
A GED used to be an option for ADULTS who were well beyond high school age who wanted (and were able to) indicate they had the equivalent of a h.s. education. GED programs are now being pushed for kids who are not beyond school age and I think it is a cop-out on the part of schools to foster this approach. DON'T get me wrong--if you or anyone you know has a GED and it has worked out, I'm really happy for you. If you freely chose that--great. But that is different to me than encouraging students to drop out and into GED. The Time magazine article I mentioned in the other post talked about administrators encouraging students to drop out saying, "you can get a GED."
How do employers and colleges regard GEDs? It depends.....I see many ads that say H.S. diploma required--No GED. GEDs limit college choices a lot EXCEPT for the very bright iconoclast that has sky high SATs and dropped out of school at 16--traveled the world, picked up a GED, and got into Harvard--sort of the Bill Gates model before the money is made. Not many kids fit that model.
I personally believe, but can't prove, that a person with a GED who graduates from college will never suffer for it because I have never known of a job requiring a college degree that inquired about a high school diploma. It becomes irrelevant. The question is: how hard is it to graduate from college with a GED as a base. It depends
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My son has a friend --also a musician-- LOL--actually that's obvious--all his friends are musicians--who dropped out of high school at 15, went to the Curtis Institute--had been a year behind my son in school --is now two years ahead--and just recently became old enough to get a GED. Will it hurt him? Of course not because first, he's a musician and second he will get a bachelor's degree in 2007.
A more common outcome in my experience is that a GED hurts both job and post secondary opportunities initially. However if the person is motivated--for example, getting a A.A. degree at a community college bec. the four year college they wanted won't accept a GED, then the person will be fine as a transfer student. Employment is less clear to me--how many jobs say "NO GED?" I don't know. Is it becoming more common? I don't know that either.
I only know two things: I worked REALLY hard to not have ex-difficult child follow his friend (they were at the same conservatory h.s.) to the early conservatory entrance-GED route. I am happy that he graduated from high school despite the struggle (he attended five high schools in total) even though he is not nearly as well educated as his sister at the same age. But he had the opportunity, he couldn't/wouldn't use it.
I guess what I am really saying is--as an individual decision, I can come up with examples of when getting a GED is a good and reasonable thing to do --and examples when that is not the case. What I object to is the creation of a group of kids for whom the GED is seen as a "good enough alternative. I wonder if part of what is motivating school administrators is to get kids out of schools due to NCLB because a drop out doesn't figure in high stakes test scores. Of course this is based on the fallacy that all students pushed out to get GEDs would test poorly which is not true because for poor test takers, it can be much easier to hang around in high school than it is to pass the GED. But I think that there is a growing attraction to push kids toward GEDs and it is definitely not a POLICY (as opposed to an individual decision) that we should want to see encouraged.
Martie
