Don't be a Cliché If You're Going To Do This

Article Type: Quick and Dirty

Earning a GED is certainly better than not earning a GED. Having said that, there are a handful of dangerous clichés that you want to avoid if you are going this route. We all know someone like this.

-Now I’ve Got Nothing: Imagine this scenario. This hackneyed individual (who is not you) drops out of high school with plans to take the GED. Problem is, dropping out of high school was a result of not paying much attention in classes anyway, not having much of a taste for learning in general. Fast forward to the test, which is meant to be too difficult for 40% of graduating seniors (who probably paid attention at least 40% of the time) to pass. Guess what? Now this person has neither a GED nor a high school diploma and a job at Micky D’s. Oops.

"Caption: We wish we could stay here forever, too. But get out of bed and use that GED that you worked so hard to get!"

(Source)

-The Dead-End Jobber: Taking and passing the GED is meant to be a step toward improving chances of landing a decent job or getting accepted into some form of higher education. But job prospects can be difficult to come by for a GED holder, especially in this economy when folks with college degrees are looking for minimum wage jobs. (There’s that F word again: fair.) As a GED holder, you may be looking at entry-level jobs, which is fine, but avoid the cycle of working one entry-level job after another. The idea with entry-level is that you learn some skills and move up the ladder. Don’t sit on the bottom rung your whole life, coming home every night smelling like greasy buns or pool water.

-The Failure to Launch: You’ve got your GED! Now it’s time to take the next step. Get a job, apply to school, or find an apprenticeship or internship. Just make sure it’s something. What you don’t want is to wake up 10 years from now, still sleeping on the foldout bed in your dad’s basement and asking to borrow the car on Saturday night. Get moving. 

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