GED Resources and the need to recognize the humanity of adult learners

Nationally, some 39 Million US adults lack a High School diploma (click here to see report).  

As a teacher, this is hard to get my hands around because there is a ton of GED resources out here and most of it is free.  Just think about it:

• literally millions of web pages offering GED help online
• probably hundreds of test prep books, DVDs, and software series
• there are over 14,000 School Districts in the US offering some type of GED class
• 9,000 Public Libraries offering some type of literacy/diploma help

In 2012, 702,000 people attempted the test.  Of the 702,000 test takers, 607,000 test takers completed all five test.  Of the 607,000 attempts, 418,000 test takers actually passed the test (click here to get the report).

Now, consider that an estimated 1.2 million students drop out from High School in the US each year.

The image that comes to mind is a battlefield.  As a GED Teacher, I see myself as part of this humongous powerful army, complete with weaponry of all kinds.  I see the opposition as a small, guerilla type outfit.  We, the large army, control the battlefield and terms of the warfare (i.e. the resources, the rules, the schools, the texts, even the test itself ) but the small guerilla oufit (i.e. real life, people's real needs, what it's actually like being an adult student) keeps the war steadily unstoppable and steadily unable to be won. 

Coming out of my battlefield daydream - I go back to November of 2001.  I assigned an essay to my class in preparation for the GED Essay section.  A student wrote about a time in their life when they were violated.  For this student, the GED would allow them to move to Texas, get a cosmetology license and open a hair salon with a cousin.  Then, they would be able to put their past behind them.

A little chocked up, it was hard to tell this student about subject-verb agreement or that they forgot to add a conclusion at the end of the essay.  It didn't feel right to tell them about websites or free tools to really get their writing solid, at least not right then.

I just needed to recognize their humanity.  This student had been hurt and needed just one more person to know about and see it.  I did.