Credit: Edutopia

GED Is Good

"Dropout Diplomacy: A Boston Initiative Reaches Out to Truants" (June 2007) has one area that needs some clarification. The idea of working to get dropout students back into the classroom is an admirable idea, but it is important not to underestimate the General Educational Development Tests. (The reference to the GED credential/diploma as a certificate is incorrect. The phrase in the article that reads "simply going for a General Education Development, or GED, certificate" gives the GED test a bad reputation. The GED Tests are valid, normed, and standardized, and the students who take them earn a GED diploma.)

According to the American Council of Education -- which develops, and sets rules for the use of, the tests -- 95 percent of U.S. colleges and universities recognize the GED and accept recipients, who can go on to earn a college degree. Each year, GED graduates from all over United States and Canada earn and receive their GED credential, which opens the door for them to not only go to college but also find work or join the military. The GED is also an important resource for older-than-average students and new American citizens from other countries.

High schools, alternative high schools, GED programs, and GED testing centers are all assets to our communities and should work together to promote educational success for all students of all ages. If people are concerned and have the best interest of prospective dropouts and actual dropouts at heart, they need to work with educational systems to find the best means of helping these students earn a diploma from whatever educational source will make them successful. No one interested in education should discredit any other educational program, because sometimes one educational option is better than another for certain individuals. It all depends on a student's situation.

For more information about the GED, go to the American Council of Education's Web site and type "GED" in the search field.

Maybe you should publish an article on the history of the GED in a future issue. The GED Tests were developed sixty-five years ago, and, soon after, they were first given to our returning military men from World War II.

Laurel Kaae

Where Are the Women?

Your latest The Daring Dozen: 2007 (June 2007) are certainly stellar individuals, but how is it that, in a profession in which the overwhelming majority of members are female, you found only a minority of female candidates (five out of twelve honorees) qualified for this award, and by what coincidence, among the "Still Daring" past honorees you cite, did you decide to profile an even smaller minority of women (three out of twelve honorees)? Isn't the implicit message that males principally are the ones who are reshaping the future of education?

Susan C. Wei

Get Your Head in the Game

Milton Chen's online article about how not to educate people was a trenchant one. When our educational methods fail, we seem to assume one of two things: We're not doing enough of it (more, more, more) or we're not holding people accountable; if we can strike enough fear into the hearts of our teachers and children, they can learn to play basketball by reading a textbook.

Folks, it ain't gonna work.

A. Michael Berman

Site Seen

I want to thank you for such a great magazine and Web site! I especially appreciate the article "A Comfortable Truth: Well-Planned Classrooms Make a Difference" (April/May 2007). As a home educator, I've had to completely rethink the training I received during my public school years, my children's private school years, and my college-education years -- especially courses in elementary education. Like many homeschooling families, we started out our journey by trying to emulate the traditional classroom setting, only to eventually realize we didn't have to use what doesn't work!

We have a formal schoolroom in our home, complete with hard desks and chairs, a flag, wall maps, and so on, but we have found that most of our learning takes place cuddled together reading books on the living room couch, or having a healthy snack at the kitchen table, or exploring outside in our woods. I can attest to the idea that learning is best achieved in a comfortable, child-friendly environment!

Thanks again for an article that will hopefully touch many educators -- home educators included!

Casie Weihe

Teach, Not Counsel

I read with some dismay the online article "A Depressing Trend: Teenage Mental Illness Is on the Rise," by Laura Scholes. As a school counselor, I certainly agree that we are seeing and dealing with more mental and emotional illness in our students. I further agree that often, teachers are the first to note signs of stress or emotional issues in their students. However, I strongly disagree that we should expect our teachers to take on counseling roles. They have neither the training nor time to do so. To expect them to is both unreasonable and unethical.

What is appropriate is to recognize and address the need for more K - 12 school counselors and the need to implement comprehensive school-counseling programs at all levels. The school counselor's role is one of both an educator and a mental-health professional.

The American School Counseling Association's National Model for Comprehensive School Counseling programs addresses the need to support both students and teachers in both these areas. However, in order for the ASCA model to be most effective, school counselors need to work full time at one school and have a counselor-student ratio of no more than 1:250. Currently, those conditions are rarely met.

Diane L. Tuttle

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