GED Obtained

Amaury

Well-known member
Took my mathematics test today and passed it!

  • Reading: 480
  • Writing: 700
  • Social Studies: 530
  • Science: 550
  • Mathematics: 450

Average Score: 542

For those that don't know, here's how it works: There are 800 points possible on the tests; to pass each test, you need to get at least a 410. However, to get your GED, you need at least a 450 average across all tests.
 
You can find the same jobs without GED as with it. In today's market GED (and even AA) is useless.
Having a GED or degree does open up possibilities.

No for most people in reality it doesn't.

I dropped out of highschool to go start earning money after an unfortunate series of events caused me to have to repeat my junior year of high school even though I had more credits at the end of my sophomore year than most juniors had at the end of the same school year.

I went back and got an Adult ED diploma which is supposedly = to a HS diploma and supposedly more valuable than a GED because a GED only requires you to take a test and does not require you to sit in a classroom to earn credit hours which an adult ED HS diploma , unfortunately when you have a substitute for an actual high school diploma most employers screw you on pay and throw you to the curb if you explain why the rate is unsatisfactory, legitimate gripe or not and this is not repeating what someone who doesn't really know says about how it works...this is my life experience.

Most of the time the guy doing the hiring has a degree in something and I think there is some sort of complex in the mix causing him to think that if he hires someone that on paper barely has a HS education and that person outshines him it will make him look bad so even if you do get hired, doing an awesome job could get you canned.

I helped tutor people in night school because I always had all my classwork and homework for the night done within 30 minutes of the class starting (classes were 2 a night 2 hours and some change a piece) and in the whole time I attended until I got my diploma which I did after work hours I only ever answered one question in any assignment or test incorrectly.

Does it matter...no, the only jobs I can secure with that piece of paper that can actually afford a decent living are the same extremely physical labor jobs which I was doing before I got the diploma and a person can't do those jobs forever, also if you look at the numbers in the trades I do most of the people doing those jobs die within one year of retirement at an average age from 59-62 years old.

I worked with a guy that had to keep working at 58 years old with an artificial heart and two replaced knees one of which had to be replaced twice just to be able to keep his home and a hot plate in front of him at the table, when I had that job I had to pay almost 7000 a year out of pocket for medical insurance and could only go to specific places to use it vs the guy who has full medical coverage and who's job is not dangerous at all (you know, because the people who build the schools that people earn their degrees at and the buildings that all the office types work in don't need medical more than the guy who's most dangerous part of his job is a possible paper cut or a sore on his butt from sitting all day).

Ultimately if you don't go to a university and get a degree (it doesn't matter if you earn it or not, as long as you have the piece of paper saying you did) you will have a very small chance of getting into something that can furnish you a lifestyle worth mentioning. I have friends that are as dumb as dog chit and partied all through college, drunk E'd up and coked out of their minds every night and bought their grades and now they have great paying jobs in which they do very little, and then I have friends that earned everything they have by working hard and most of what they are entitled to they will never see.


Since I assume that you got your GED in an effort to help you establish something in the way of a career I would suggest that if you can afford to further your education to a higher level than do it, otherwise hope you get hired by someone who can see your potential and views you as an asset rather than a threat that can put out numbers for him in the temporary until he replaces you with another drone.

In my experience going back to get that piece of paper saying I finished high school was useless and a waste of my time.
 
I got mine many years ago after dropping out in 12th grade - just couldn't sit still....especially when there were better things to do.

Never needed to show it - that's because I have always relied on skills and worked for myself.

The important thing is to find work which rewards employees (or self) based on merits, as opposed to becoming part of a corporate grind somewhere where office politics and low wages are present.

Of course, everyone has to start at the bottom. I carried lumber at a construction site, then learned how to nail it together - next thing you know, I was installing custom kitchens and then in business for myself.
 
The important thing is to find work which rewards employees (or self) based on merits, as opposed to becoming part of a corporate grind somewhere where office politics and low wages are present.
Those exist?

The last job I was at I got fired from because a drug dealer who sold the whole shop their drugs said I threatened him, and that was the end of it, of course this was after about 12 documented and recorded incidences of industrial sabotage where I had almost lost digits and when offering to present the evidence in an effort to make it stop I was told that I had problems, never mind the engineer who had no place near my machines who was sneaking in when we were at lunch to mess with my machine and has been caught on tape by me and my hidden pin camera broadcasting to a recording device in my truck over 2.4ghz. But having him gave the guy in the office juice against people so the drug dealer with dirt on the users is more valuable to him than someone who just wanted to go to work to, would you guess... do work.


Of course, everyone has to start at the bottom. I carried lumber at a construction site, then learned how to nail it together - next thing you know, I was installing custom kitchens and then in business for myself.
I ran a mill shop alone for a guy (hauling lumber, slicing gluing and clamping stock, making the parts and assembling on no less than 15 floor machines plus dozens of power tools), and also designed parts and whole systems for privileged few who could afford them.

I did this for 10 dollars an hour in a shop I worked alone at (mind you that I have years of experience and have long since played my roll at the bottom of the food chain), and when I wasn't alone I was required to teach English to the immigrants he was using, the owner even tried to make me write the letters to the state that these people were required to do so periodically until they earned their green cards.

I literally unsupervised start to finish created things like you see in the images below and when I said it was time for a raise, he said no , go eff yourself and if you don't like it find another job if you can stupid.


curved-stairs-custom-newel-posts--UDU2Ny04NjQ0LjEzNTY3OA==.webp
l.webp
21478923.webp
newel13_web.webp

/\ those look like 10 dollar an hour works right?



Either way I reported him to the DOL and INS and kept it moving on to the next order of abuse in the workplace.
 
@Amaury , don't be discouraged. A GED is better than nothing. Just because somebody did not have a positive experience from getting theirs doesn't mean that everybody does. I know first-hand (because I am close relation to the person) somebody who only got a GED and is now a VP of IT for a major US based manufacturer. Time from GED to that position spans over 25 years but it is a contrasting example of somebody with a GED only, no college degrees, succeeding quite well. Obviously that person is not typical but it shows that drive & determination, for some, outweighs paperwork.
 
I actually did finish high school, I just didn't get enough credits to graduate because I went part-time.

A little back story for everyone: Sometime during the fifth grade at one school, I was taken out and homeschooled because things just weren't working out. I had too many "behavior" problems, so a couple grades back I was falsely diagnosed with ADHD and was prescribed Riddlelin (I have no idea how to spell it), this drug that supposedly calms you down and allows you to focus. However, because I didn't have ADHD, it kind of had the opposite effect on me.

One night I snapped from all the pressure my mom was putting on me to behave because of all the pressure the school had put on my mom for me to behave, and I took six pills, which equaled 60 milligrams, and I was only supposed to take two pills a day, if I recall correctly (if not two, then one) -- one in the morning and one in the afternoon. That night I was really out of it, but my mom just thought I was tired because I had played hard with a friend that day and didn't know until I told her the following morning.

At that instant, she called the school and told them I wouldn't be in and took me off the medication and ended up taking me out of school. A while later I was put in again, but part-time. However, my mom eventually just took me out completely and homeschooled me. About six months later, I decided I wanted to go back to school, but repeat the fifth grade at another school for a better experience, which did go well.

Moving on to junior high, sixth grade was okay. I ended up dropping some classes and going part-time. Halfway through seventh grade, I started having "problems" again, though not as serious, and was taken out. Like there was this one day where I ran around the track twice without walking or stopping and was really tired and out of breath and I felt like I was going to faint. I asked my PE teacher if I could get some water, and she told me to wait. I really needed a drink, though, and sneaked inside to get one, and guess what? I got in trouble. My sixth grade PE teacher would have allowed me to get a drink, no problem, because he was cool.

Anyway, I get homeschooled again, and about two years later, I started seeing familiar faces, mostly from junior high, at places like McDonald's (working) and I started missing my friends, so I decided that I wanted to return to school once again and was put into ninth grade. My first year at the high school I really didn't care, probably because I was getting used to school again, but tenth-twelve grade I did care about my grades and whatnot, but my four school years at the high school (2008 - 2012) were the greatest years of my life -- I made great friends, I had great teachers, etc.

For anyone curious, the grades worked like this when I was still in high school:

  • Elementary: First through fifth grades
  • Junior High: Sixth through eight grades
  • High School: Ninth through 12th grades
    - Freshman
    - Sophomore
    - Junior
    - Senior

However, eighth graders are now being taught at the high school due to safety concerns with the older parts of the middle school.

From the school webpage:


History of Morgan - Construction History
  • 1929 - Main building and Auditorium
  • 1935 - South addition to main building, Main gymnasium
  • 1953 - Locker room additions, auxilliary gymnasium
  • 1966 - New office, cafeteria, library, six classrooms (The 90s Wing)
  • 1990 - Shop/Music Art wing remodel
  • 1993 - Demolition of Cascade High School (West of Morgan)
  • 1994 - New Home Ec., science, math classrooms
  • 2012 - The 1929/1935 Building closed for safety and inadequecy reasons
 
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The main thing is to be fairly tall and have a deep voice and use words like "no brainer" and "metrics". Then you will go far (no kidding!)......of course, the above advice is for males only....

EQ, sounds like you needed to give your employer an "American Beauty" offer.....comedy is, at it's best, quite true in real life also.

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The main thing is to be fairly tall and have a deep voice and use words like "no brainer" and "metrics". Then you will go far (no kidding!)......of course, the above advice is for males only....

EQ, sounds like you needed to give your employer an "American Beauty" offer.....comedy is, at it's best, quite true in real life also.

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Under different circumstances I would have done just that though for legal reasons I would ask a lawyer first if that constitutes blackmail ( I would probably leave out things like what what Spacey says at the end of that clip to the office dude.)

The mill shop owner, it would not have worked with, chris had a second house that his wife and kids didn't know about and he paid two people my age to act as his kids so he could chase young tail in his million dollar second home at parties that they threw. His whole tactic is to deny truth and insult opposition....he even stole my tools...I went to show up for work one day and he changed the locks on the shop (which was built in his backyard) and had the police waiting in the driveway on a report that I was going to come to his shop and steal tools (which in reality were my tools that I bought with my own money) and that was that. I could not prove it either way so I lost over 10000 right there and if I pushed the issue with the police I would have been arrested because his word against mine and possession is 9/10ths the law as they say. My only avenue against him was the illegal immigration operation he was running and I went with that even though it benefited me in no way at all but still felt really good.



The other guy (Kevin) who screwed me is a total sleazeball who hides behind posturing, conjecture and the company/title and basically if I were to win a small victory against him it would mean the termination of someone I care about who got me the job there and needs that job.

Without a doubt if I present the evidence I have against him and his little minions he would be in some serious trouble (industrial sabotage is not a joke and he basically allows things to happen if it suits him) as well as a few others there but unless the payout on the damages to me was a million + where I could compensate the person who got me the job it is not worth it. What kind of ahole would I be if I get a person I care about fired from a job (they would come up with a reason) that they have 20+ years at and are close to retirement with so that I can get 50 grand or a hundred grand...I think I would be the chittiest kind of ahole in that scenario.


I do have to agree with you on the buzzword bingo approach, the guy who became the company president at the second job I mentioned basically schmoozes his way into snowing the company owner who thinks his words are gold...the guy makes 200k in bonuses a year for basically doing nothing and to boot knows absolutely nothing about the business for which he is the president. He would liquidate the company and kill all those jobs if it meant him getting a one time bonus.



Did I say what I had to say to him...you bet your rear, but either way I can not go forward with any type of prosecution against the guilty parties who work there without also hurting people I care about.
 
Hey I saw a caps and figured it was state abbreviations, and either way I am still eating corn with my next bbq dinner if it makes any difference.
 
I'm never exactly sure what a degree is worth these days.

I know people who have degrees higher than myself and not to shoot myself in the foot, sometimes I think they work harder than me.... But they seem to struggle for every inch they get. And yet, I know a few who never got any degree, barely lifts a finger, and they are living a fairly good life (to the point of envy).

So it's not so black & white as it once was (if it ever was).
 
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