Homeschooling parents often ask me about the General Equivalency Diploma, should they or should they not have their student take the GED? This can be a touchy subject, but the answer is pretty straight forward. Colleges and universities have a general bias towards those students with a GED certificate instead of a high school diploma. It really doesn’t matter the reason the student received a GED, whether homeschooled or not.
When a student is applying for admission and doesn’t have a high school diploma, it says to the admissions office that this student flunked out, dropped out, was kicked out, or wasn’t dedicated enough to graduate high school. The last thing you should want for your student is to be lumped in with this group!
Since homeschoolers are some of the brightest and most academically gifted students in the country, don’t demean yourself by stooping to the level of the GED. If you keep accurate records and transcripts, most universities won’t even ask to see a diploma. If you do wish to provide one for your student, check out Home School Diploma for custom made diplomas and other graduation goodies designed specifically for homeschoolers.
It is possible that you may run across a college biased against or ignorant of homeschooling who will require your student to take the GED before the application is considered for admission. If you encounter this, look for another school. The GED is for high school drop-outs, and homeschoolers are far from drop-outs! Although now a much rarer occurrence, it does still happen, and when it does, can be very disconcerting for many parents and students. Don’t play into this game. Rise above it and prove your student is well above this inferior academic level. Don’t take it personally, they just don’t know. If you want to try and educate them, go ahead, but many times it’s easier to save the headaches and simply move on to another school.
So, to recap, don’t take the GED, unless you feel it’s easier than fighting with the school who requires it, and you don’t mind your student being categorized with high school drop-outs.
Many people think that the “E” in GED stands for “equivalent,” believing the alternative credential is supposed to be like a high-school diploma. They are wrong on two counts — the GED stands for General Education Development certification, and there is nothing about this certification that is equivalent to a high-school diploma.
http://www.educationanywhere.com/ged.html
Although “General Educational Development” is the technical name, the more popular term is General Equivalency Diploma. It is also referred to as General Education Diploma, and a Graduate Equivalency Degree. If you care to re-read the post, you’ll see that the GED is not being condoned, but discouraged for homeschooled students to take it.
I think I understand that you are making the point that homeschoolers should not feel that their education is inferior. What I don’t understand is how people in the education field would be so biased against all students who take the GED. The comments describing students who take the GED are pretty negative ( this student flunked out, dropped out, was kicked out, or wasn’t dedicated enough to graduate high school), and I’m sorry to tell you that this is wrong for large numbers of intelligent students. You must remember that stereotypes are just stereotypes, and are not usually accurate when you stop to consider individual people and the wide variety of circumstances impacting each unique life. Many intelligent, motivated and deserving people are thankful for the chance to take the GED and move forward with higher education. Keep up the good work with the homeschoolers, because they too are thankful for an alternative form of education, but please don’t spread false information and stamp out the dreams of a student who’s only option might be the GED.