Technically they carry the same weight.

If high school students had to take a test to get their diploma, many wouldn’t get one!

You have to take a test to get a GED and that test is rough.

I know high school graduates who think Denmark is a city and can’t solve WHAT IS 0.1 of 10.

See, you just get a diploma for being in school. It doesn’t mean you’re smart or proficient.

Getting a GED means you knew enough to pass a tough test.

Until very recently, the last 6 years or so, an HSD was worth far more than a GED. Now that many states are considering starting ‘tiered’ high school diplomas the GED will be worth about as much as the lower tier diploma. The lower tiered diploma condemns you more than helps. AT best it entitles you to wage slavery.

Most employers see a GED as a second rate document, because, most simply, it is. A GED with some decent SAT scores is something else. Lots of GED’s also carry the implication of a criminal record, perhaps unfairly, but most of the GED’s I have dealt with did have a record of at least juvenile delinquency.

Far better to suffer a bit now and tough it out, stay in school.

While it’s getting better, there is still a lot of stigma around the GED, the reason being because it practically screams, “I dropped out of school!” That doesn’t give a great impression of you as a person–even though the GED is sometimes the result of a student wanting to be done with school early, the message coming out of it can be that you give up.

However, you can get a high school diploma through homeschooling or you can scrap the diploma for homeschooling and just work on things to get good SAT scores to get into college. Once you have college stuff to put on your resume, nobody’s going to care if you have a diploma or not.

Your education is more important than whether you get a diploma or the GED. Focus on where and how you’ll get the education you deserve.

If you receive a GED rather than a HS diploma, you will have a MUCH harder time being accepted in college, even a community (junior) college– they want to see those grades and GPAs. Additionally, you will have to write “GED” under the high school section on job applications for the rest of your life, which is going to “stigmatize” you as a dropout and quitter. Don’t do it– suck it up and finish. If you find traditional school just too much to bear, see if you can enroll in an online HS degree program– “cyber school.” That way you can go you get to schedule your class time and generally you can “test out” of subject matter that you have already mastered (there is a pre-test and if you score over 85%, you can skip that section). I used an online school to earn additional credits so that I could graduate a year early– it decreased my boredom in the classroom greatly. However, I still graduated from a “traditional” HS, and am now a junior in college.

It is better to have a high school diploma than a G.E.D. Although a G.E.D. says you are capable of performing high school level work, it is not the same as having a high school diploma. Obtaining a high school diploma proves that you have the tenacity to “finish the course” so to speak.

However, if you choose to obtain a G.E.D., you will still be accepted at community college and can later transfer to a 4-year college/university if you choose to do so. Another alternative to going to school would be to obtain your high school diploma via a correspondence course. The link to some high school correspondence programs are below:

http://www.pennfosterhighschool.com/index.html?semkey=Q092367

http://www.jmhs.com/courses/tuition.shtml

Yet another option other than attending classes in a physical classroom would be a virtual school; many states have these schools which use K12 Inc. curriculum. You could take classes online; you can find out if there are virtual schools in your state by clicking the link below:

http://www.k12.com/getk12/index.html

Connections Academy also has virtual schools in some states; the link is below:

http://www.connectionsacademy.com/ourschool/find_a_school.asp

I would encourage you to get your high school diploma. I have a sister who was very ill throughout her elementary and high school years. It was very hard for her to obtain her high school diploma, but she was adamant about doing so. She had dropped out of high school, but she later attended adult education classes and received her high school diploma at the age of 25. With the internet and technology, there is so much more available now than it was to her almost 30 years ago.

You can do it! Just hang in there.

A high school diploma says you went all the way and completed it. So of course it tends too look better especially to older people. A GED says I gave up but got a degree any way. I that case it looks like at least you went back to finish. Stay in school especially if it’s your last year you don’t have that long left!

My mother has a GED. Every place she applied for said, “Oh… you have a GED?”

While GED does stand for “general equivalency”… out here in the real world, employers *do* look down on it.

High School stinks. I can’t blame you for not wanting to be there. But if you stick it out, you will not ever have to mess with it again. Get your diploma, go to college, and see if you can’t make better use of your time than sitting around in one building for 8 hours a day, having someone tell you what time to eat lunch and having to ask for permission to go to the bathroom.

There are jobs that you may want later in life and are down graded because you have a GED. Getting a HSD to alots of comp. show you are dependable on getting the job done. A GED to some show you want the easy way of doing things. You may think of going with the GED to get it over with, but you will regret it later in life. Think of your future and you will want the higher pay. That means a HSD. Think about it.

Without question, the High School Diploma.

Some people see getting the GED is a quitter.

My guess, not what you might think of:

Think of high school as a job.

When you success;complete the job do get a paycheck.

You may have had some bumps/bruises/falls,etc.

YOUR DIPLOMA IS YOUR PAYCHECK!!!!

GEd says “I have issues” or “I was a horrible kid”

HSD says “I can follow the rules”

Ask a few people if they have a GED or HSD.. you figure out the difference. If you’re smart enough to do that right, you’ll finish school.