Some States Dropping GED Tests Due To Price Spikes 224
First time accepted submitter murkwood7 writes with news about states looking for an alternative to GED tests because of cost constraints. "Several dozen states are looking for an alternative to the GED high school equivalency test because of concerns that a new version coming out next year is more costly and will no longer be offered in a pencil and paper format.
The responsibility for issuing high school equivalency certificates or diplomas rests with states, and they've relied on the General Education Development exam since soon after the test was created to help returning World War II veterans.
But now 40 states and the District of Columbia are participating in a working group that's considering what's available besides the GED, and two test makers are hawking new exams."
Re:What a shock... (Score:5, Interesting)
The Irony? The operation is "Non-profit"!
The IRS really should put these organizations in line or shut them down.
Re:Privatize 2 help funnel the money 2 corporate b (Score:4, Interesting)
The usual reason given for privatizing is the old canard "the private corporations can do this at a much lower cost"
And it's nearly always true... when there is competition.
When there's no competition, when a single private corporation is set up as a government-mandated monopoly, the result is always going to be very bad. You can make it less bad by adding a government regulatory body to provide oversight, but the result will still be less efficient than if there were true competition.
Re:What a shock... (Score:4, Interesting)
Really these changes have been going on for a while, particularly since high schools have implemented somewhat rigorous testing as a barrier to graduation. Really, 20 years ago a GED was almost superior to a high school diploma. It demonstrated actual knowledge. Not that high schools are testiing, the high school diploma is preferred in many cases. For the past ten years I have not seen many use it for jobs. In fact even 20 years ago the only time I saw it used was to gain entrance to a community college or to qualify for a promotion at an existing job.
In any case, the trend now seems to be extend high school for those who need it, try to get them into the workforce, and by hook or crook get a high school diploma. For heavily supervised work, that is enough. Anyone hired people for lightly supervised or unsupervised work is going to hire a college grad anyway. Even someone with an online degree can work semi-supervised.
Re:Privatize 2 help funnel the money 2 corporate b (Score:4, Interesting)
Few people are too stupid to learn to read, write, and do basic arithmetic. Once you start hitting real science and math, typically in junior high/middle school, people start to fall by the wayside. At that point, we are engaged in the provision of free babysitting, not education, in an increasingly large portion of the population. This is counterproductive, because it simultaneously prevents students who don't want to be there from being able to go out and earn a living and subjects those who do want to be there to their antics.
Would I like to live in a well-educated society? Yes, of course I would. But my world - and the world of most Slashdotters - is not the world of most people. Most people aren't capable of getting a college degree from even the crappiest of schools, and the idiotic idea that every person should spend their first twenty-two years on earth in pursuit of a bachelor's degree is holding us back as a society. We spend far too much money on education, for far too little return. The fact that Adam Smith saw some low-hanging fruit to pick doesn't mean that the marginal dollar spent on education is always a net positive.
Re:"no longer be offered in a pencil & paper f (Score:4, Interesting)
There are many of us that have never used drugs that have taken the GED exam, myself included. During high school both my father, and my younger sister died. And my mother decided that I moving to follow my grandparents was a good idea, and my credits transferred for half what they were worth at the previous school. so as a junior I credit wise I looked like a freshman. (since half credits were rounded down) I had never used any drugs that were not prescribed to me or came over the counter. (and no I did not modify those) my GPA did suffer due to everything I was going through, but even then I was never a straight A student. So, I took the GED exam which at that time was weighted so that only 25% of high school graduates could pass it. I passed it on my first try
I was stuck in a dead end job for many years, but I'm finally back in school. Currently have completed an EE minor, am one class away from a math minor as well, and I am working on completing my senior year for a CS major..
Who are you to say what someone else needs? Especially, if you don't know their life. The details I placed in this post are just a fraction of the stories and difficulties I have faced. If you think you know him well enough to state "It's a big cluebat across the side of his head that he needs." then maybe he knows you well enough to state the same, or possibly worse.
Re:"no longer be offered in a pencil & paper f (Score:2, Interesting)
It wouldn't shock me.. I once had a social studies teacher who spent a lot of his time either trying to convince us that the teacher's union is always right or that my province should split from Canada and join with Washington, Oregon and California to form a new country called "Cascadia". Throw in a Chemistry teacher who had problems with anyone not an atheist or vegetarian, a health teacher who blamed men for everything wrong in this world and I got the idea very quickly that teachers often have the view that their position gives them the right to shove their own views down the throats of the students.
The only time I have ever seen a teacher take any heat for anything that came out of their mouths was a substitute teacher who went off on a rant about how South Africa was better off under apartheid because "blacks can't run things". We never saw him again. Quite frankly, teachers can say and do what they want so long as they don't trash talk anyone for being female or not white.