Country Dictionary

Noun. General Educational Development. The GED is an educational certificate awarded in the United States and Canada which certifies that the recipient has met the minimum requirements necessary to graduate high school. Some members of the academic elite enjoy ridiculing the test and its alleged lack of significance or ease of completion, despite the fact that 30% of graduating high school seniors fail it each year. Reasons for dropping out of high school and later pursuing the GED are diverse and include family problems, military service and economic conditions which force willing students to take full-time jobs. Thus, any stereotyping or derisive attitude toward those pursuing their GED's seems to come from a lack of compassion, or from pure, pompous arrogance. Despite the belief that GED students are under-achievers or that they do not wish to pursue a higher education, the simple fact that they have chosen to study for their GED renders this argument highly spurious. In addition, many of those who receive the certificate go on to college/university and enjoy successful, illustrious careers. Among the most famous recipients of the GED are U.S. Senators Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Paull Shin, Governors Jim Florio and Ruth Ann Minner, Surgeon General Richard Carmona, and highly revered ABC broadcast journalist Peter Jennings.

1. "There is no reason to look down on those who are going after a second chance and getting their GED."

Good Enough Diploma

A test taken by people who don't have time for bullshit in highschool.

she took the ged because the teachers spent more time talking about their days than teaching

There is no such thing as getting a GED and no state awards anything called a "GED" or a general equivalency diploma or degree. The GED acronym is frequently misused to mean “general education degree” or "general education diploma,” when in fact the GED brand was developed as a trademark to identify the “tests of general educational development,” a term coined by the American Council on Education, the owner of the GED trademark, in the 1940’s to identify a battery of tests that measure proficiency in science, mathematics, social studies, reading and writing. Passing the GED test gives those who did not complete high school the opportunity to earn their high school credential, but no state awards a GED per se.

After dropping out of high school years ago, I am now preparing to pass the GED test and receive my high school equivalency credential so that I can go to college.

The thing to get for that guy who always sat in class doodling on his paper(Like me). Usually hated by jealous nerds for being so laid back and mellow, without stress, headaches, or a care in the world(Although that is hardly the case, most of the time). I like to call this Frank Grimes Syndrome. As much as you may or may not want to believe it, a person with a GED has as much a chance of going to college as someone with a diploma.

I'm a cartoonist now.

According to Chris Rock, it's "bullshit."

You're telling me you can make up 4 years in 6 hours?!?

The high school diploma equivilent for mexicans.

I got my diploma, but my friend Juan got his GED.