In GED We Trust? A Critical Examination of the Rhetoric and Reality of the General Educational Development Diploma

This article explores the ways in which the General Education Development diploma (or GED) is presented by the formal and informal curriculum, teachers, and learners in two basic educational programs serving welfare recipients. I examine the rhetoric surrounding the GED, focusing on the GED's ability to achieve positive impacts in learners' lives. Findings from the two programs show that the taken-for-granted assumptions about the GED as presented in these two classrooms promote the message that getting a GED is the way to a better life. The two outcomes stressed most frequently were that getting the GED opens up "new possibilities" and that getting the GED can solve economic problems. The almost magical power of the GED to transform lives was highlighted in these classrooms, and there was very little day-to-day questioning of this rhetoric. After a presentation of the rhetoric of the GED, I discuss how this rhetoric matches what we know about the impact of the GED from various outcome studies. I conclude that the rhetoric of the GED and the findings from outcome studies present a mismatch that should be problematized by adult education researchers and teachers. Resume Dans cet article, nous abordons la facon dont le diplome d'equivalences d'etudes secondaires (ou GED) est presente par le programme d'etudes formel et informel, les professeurs et les apprenants de deux centre d'education des adultes desservant des beneficiaires de l'aide sociale. Nous analysons le discours entourant le GED, qui insiste son impact positif dans la vie des apprenants. Les resultats de la recherche montrent que les pretentions sur le GED de ces deux centres repandent l'idee que le diplome d'equivalences d'etudes secondaires mene a une vie meilleure. Les deux avantages les plus frequemment mentionnes sont qu'avoir son GED ouvre des portes et elimine les problemes d'ordre financier. Les deux centres insistaient sur le pouvoir quasi magique du GED de transformer une vie, et cette idee n'a presque jamais ete remise en question par les apprenants. Apres une presentation du discours entourant le GED, nous analyserons comment ce discours correspond aux resultats de diverses etudes sur l'impact du GED dans la vie des apprenants. En conclusion, le discours entourant le GED et les resultats de la recherche sur son impact divergent et il serait souhaitable que des chercheurs et des professeurs en andragogie s'y attardent.

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