There was nothing more impactful on my high school band experience than when we played at graduation. Our band leader, Durrell Blank, made the moment even more auspicious for the students and their relatives by having us play the intro to the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey as a prelude. The build up from the brass section would crescendo into a thunderous roar that led to the pounding of the timpani kettle drum, Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! sending chills up my spine. We were announcing to everyone in attendance that you are about to witness the achievement of greatness. Then we would drop into the more mellow tones of the traditional graduation march, Pomp and Circumstance, just as the graduates began their final steps into their designated seating area to complete their rites of passage into adulthood. What a momentous day. After four years of high school, you finally made it. This same spirit engulfed me, my classmates, and our families when our senior year arrived and the torch was passed to the undergraduate bandmates to serenade us on the finality of our accomplishment.
While the grandeur of graduation ceremony should be enough for every entering freshman to put forth the effort to achieve a high school diploma, for some, it is not always available or even a desire. For every entering freshman class across the United States there is an average attrition rate between 13%-20% that never make it to graduation according to the National Center for Education Statistics adjusted cohort graduation rate (ACGR). This includes those students who drop out; remain enrolled beyond four years; and those who earn a GED or certificate instead of a regular diploma. Of these three criteria, the largest segment is those who voluntarily dropped out. Why then do we deride individuals from bypassing the four-year ritual of school and obtaining a GED as if it doesn’t have the same significance as a diploma? That’s why the name is General Equivalency Diploma or GED for short.
Overcrowding in public schools is a common phenomenon happening across the United States. Some high schools are bursting at the seams with students when many of them don’t want to be there. Still the system forces schools to harbor these individuals, trying to coax them into believing that if they stay on the four-year course and get their diploma, the world will open up to them. The unfortunate reality is that some of these students will reach the same trajectory whether or not they graduate from high school. And what about those who may need to graduate early. I recently had a student who inquired about graduating early because her father and custodial parent, was very sick and she needed to take care of him. She was in the 10th grade and had the requisite skills to most likely pass the GED. Once the school term ended, she would have finished school at 16 years old. When the idea of obtaining her GED was mentioned, she frowned at it and opted to take the risk working towards her diploma. I’m not sure what happened after her sophomore year. Keep in mind that Martin Luther King, Jr. graduated high school at 15 and joined the civil rights movement at 26.
We all understand that some neighborhoods and some cultures experience higher rates of dropouts than others. Some students, regardless of what you throw at them, will dig in and do whatever it takes to succeed in school. These students are typically the ones who have the acumen for it. They are not exceptional, they just see this as their best opportunity to acquire the things that they want out of life. There are others who are just as bright but are motivated differently. These are the risk takers who are willing to venture out and jumpstart their own careers, so they will opt to get their GED early. Whereas the diploma chasers need to have their credentials on paper accompanied with a fancy ceremony.
What about the less motivated? Some of these students may have experienced educational trauma early on and may be insecure about their skills. Still others may have learning disabilities that have gone unchecked or they are embarrassed about their diagnosis. Without a strong family support system, often the school does everything they can to accommodate them, yet nothing ever seems to stick. So, what do we do? Do we continue to push them to take state exams when we know there is a high probability that they will not pass, placing undue stress on teachers causing the teacher’s attrition rate to skyrocket? Instead, how about we develop an educational track that will provide them with the requisite skills to achieve a GED starting at age 16? Then they could still have the graduation experience or not.
In recent years, the response has been to instill programs that assist students aged 19-21 to gain credits that they lack to graduate. While this is a great concept, the problem that no one seems to address is that many of these students are unwilling participants. And what I mean by unwilling participants is that they still have poor attendance, they act out, and they don’t put forth their best effort. They are skating through. This can stem from different reasons.
First, many of these adult-schoolers are attending school in high schools at the same time that general high schoolers are in school. I’ve even visited one of these adult high schools that was located on the top floor of an elementary school where there was no trained security in place. I watched a few of these students enter the building wearing the stress and mental anguish of seasoned adults on their faces. This was in stark contrast to the little ones who were outside running around carefree during recess. I immediately felt concerned about the safety of everyone there.
For the adult schools housed in high schools there are other dangers. There is often cross fighting between schools. Also, despite the mature look of some students in the upper grades, we forget about the young impressionable 14 year olds who are fresh out of middle school. There is a risk that one or more of the adult-schoolers could introduce high schoolers, regardless of grade, to unfavorable behavior. They could also bully them or at the unlikely chance, become predators. Despite the small possibility of any of these scenarios, if I had a child, I still would not be inclined to send them to school in the same building as adult-schoolers.
Second, why are we coddling 19-21 year old adults into the illusion that they are in the same category as high school students? They are not and this should be stressed to them. This is one of the biggest problems that the United States has created for itself. That is, after you reach age 18 and graduate high school, you now move into an extended level of childhood that allows you to behave out of order until the age of 30, when you become an “official adult.” If I’m wrong, then watch what happens every spring break in Florida. Maybe if we regarded these young people as adults with responsibilities and scheduled these classes at night, they would take this second chance opportunity a little more seriously. This would keep their mornings flexible for work.
Third, here is the controversial idea that we tip toe around. NOT ALL STUDENTS ARE CUT OUT FOR SCHOOL! Yes, there are successful cases of students who went awry and had someone believe in them. These mentors put forth the mighty effort it took to set them back on the path to college. This is awesome and may the community continue to do this, but let’s put these 1 out of 1000 scenarios into perspective. Instead of trying to convince every student to go to college, why aren’t we providing trades skills for those students who won’t go to college. Many of our students are acting out because the schools do not provide them with a positive incentive about their future. If we provided trades in high schools that enabled students to graduate with a GED/Trade diploma, then they could go straight into the workforce. We could save many more young people from the streets which never yields positive dividends. Maybe a few will even go to college later in life when they are ready.
Finally, let’s talk about the benefits of a GED. It is a great marker that an individual has fulfilled the requisite skills to pursue employment and college. That is why many adults go back and attain their GED. Some people act as if it is a lesser equivalent to a general diploma and it is not. That is why I don’t understand why most states have these ridiculous state exams that they impose on every student when it should be voluntary. (But that’s a story for another day. I’ll leave that alone for now.) With a GED you can attend college. Depending on your grades, you will most likely have to start at a community college and get your associate’s degree first. However, you can then transfer to a four year college where you can acquire your bachelor’s degree. Plenty of students have transferred to other colleges for various reasons. As far as higher education is concerned, the sky is the limit for someone with a GED just as it is for someone with a high school diploma.
Now that I have gotten this off my chest, I want to highlight some famously successful people who were incapable of or chose not to finish high school.
- Abraham Lincoln – The 16th President of the United States who signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves, only did one year in school because there were few schools in his area of the country at that time. However, he read books constantly and taught himself.
- Richard Branson – Owner of Virgin Airways; Dropped out of school around age 15 primarily due to severe dyslexia and ADHD
- Whoopi Goldberg – Talk show host and EGOT recipient. This means she has an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award. She dropped out of high school at age 17 due to struggles with dyslexia.
- Rihanna – Billionaire singer and entrepreneur; Dropped out of high school at 16 to pursue her music career
- Ray Kroc – Creator of McDonald’s; Dropped out of school in the 10th grade.
- Jay -Z – Rap mogul and married to the Queen B, Beyonce; Dropped out of school in the 10th grade.
- Mark Twain – Accomplished writer; Left school around the age of 12 to work as a printer’s apprentice following his father’s death.
- Robert Dinero – Accomplished actor; Dropped out of high school at 16 to pursue an acting career
- Henry Ford – Started the Ford Motor Company in 1903; Dropped out of high school around age 15 or 16 to become an apprentice machinist in Detroit, preferring hands-on mechanical work over formal education.
- Berry Gordy – Founder of Motown Records in 1959; Dropped out of high school during the eleventh grade to pursue a boxing career. He later obtained his GED while serving in the United States Army.
Now that I have shared my thoughts on this topic, I expect there will be some disagreement. That’s fine, disagree, but do so with respect and logical solutions.
This has been another Paige from my book.
A Paige from my Book 