Published: January 11, 2009 11:28 pm         

It's a myth that getting GED is easy way out

“Stick and stay.”

Clayton E. Nolen, director of adult education at Carver Education Center, believes to “stick and stay” is the most important thing anyone can do when they are furthering their education.

Whether it be finishing high school conventionally or taking the test to receive a state high school diploma (once known as GED), each route takes determination and hard work.

“A common misconception about taking the state high school diploma test is that it is the “easy route,” Nolen said.

“What we have been running with, and I mean statewide, is we’ve been getting quite a few 16- and 17-year-olds,” Nolen said.

These young students seem to think it is easier to drop out of school and take the GED test to receive their state high school diploma. However, statistics show otherwise.

According to the American Council on Education, those who pass the seven-hour GED test have surpassed the performance of at least 40 percent of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.

Those who decide to take the GED test and get a state high school diploma have to be dedicated to their decision. It may sound appealing to only attend school for 10 hours each week, but that just means more self-discipline is required for studying at home.

Whether a student decides to stick it out and make it through high school or to stick it out and make it through the GED program, getting that high school diploma is one of the most important things a person can do.

Just ask Imelda Camarena.

Camarena, 42, received her state high school diploma last June.

“Just to prove to my kids a point they can do what they want to do if they try hard,” Camarena said. “It doesn’t matter how old you are.”

Camarena knows firsthand taking the GED test and getting a state high school diploma is not easy.

“It was challenging for me because I’m a mother and I’m working,” Camarena said. “But I like challenges.”

Finding the time to attend classes, study the material, work and be a mother was one of the most challenging parts of the process for Camarena. But it was worth it.

“My self-esteem is up 100 percent,” Camarena said. “I feel like with my high school education, I feel powerful to decline one job for a better one.”

Camarena completed school through junior high in Mexico before moving to the United States.

“It was kind of challenging because the language was different,” Camarena said. “It was hard, but it was good.”

Linda Whipple teaches adult basic education at Carver and has students of all ages who are striving for their high school diploma.

Many are discouraged by the initial pre-assessment test. The test is used to determine the academic level of the student and students who score low often feel overwhelmed by the amount of information they have to learn to pass the test.

But the important thing is to “stick and stay.”

“When you take the test, you have to know the information,” Whipple said. “We have a really big increase of teenagers coming in and they have been told that this is the easy way.”

The fact is, the road to any diploma may never be easy, but it is never impossible with determination.

Aside from the lack of a high school diploma, those who do not stay in school cannot get their driver’s license until they are 18. But those who enroll in Carver’s adult education program can receive their driver’s license, Nolen said.

Home-schooled children also can receive a state high school diploma if they take the GED test.

“Most of them do very well,” Whipple said.

“Four years ago, the highest GED scorer in the state was home taught,” Nolen said.

The GED test and adult education classes can be beneficial in many ways, but Nolen emphasized it is important to realize taking classes in order to pass the GED test is a serious undertaking. It is not the easy way out. It is simply another road leading to a diploma.

In 2008, the majority of students who passed the GED test were between the ages of 18 and 26. There were 149 who took the test and 96 passed. Out of the 149 who took the test, 30 were “re-testers,” Nolen said.

The decision to take the GED test and receive a state high school diploma is an important one each individual should think through and then they need to “stick and stay.”