Should I Drop Out of High School and Get My GED Instead?

Question

I am a 17 year old junior in high school. For most of the first semester of this academic school year, I decided to take online classes due to recovery of personal matters. I found out during that time that online classes were not for me. I could not comprehend the ideas being presented to me and I performed very, very poorly.

I returned at the beginning of the second semester of this school year and I was doing fabulous. I was getting A’s and B’s constantly and just putting in a great effort. Now, the governor has declared, like many other states, that the rest of the academic school year will be held online. This is a big, big problem for me as you could guess. I’m not learning anything, I can’t test out or score well on anything, which has lead me to just ultimately give up. It just seems impossible for me to do and I know it is going to wreck my transcripts/GPA. I do plan on attending college (1/2 year community and the rest at a state university). I, as well as anybody, have no idea if the start of the next school year will be held online, and if it is, I will just fail.

I would like to take the GED so then that way I am able to have my study materials in front of me. I do not in anyway see it as a short-cut, in fact it seems to me that it may be even a bit harder than actually attending high school. Any advice is appreciated.

Answer 1

Hello Bella,

I am very sorry that you are having such a difficult time transitioning to online distance learning. Of course, you are not alone--as huge numbers of other students, teachers, and parents are all feeling the same pain that you are during this time of academic shift. I am glad that you have plans to attend a community college followed by a state university after you graduate from high school.

With regards to taking your GED as opposed to graduating from high school the traditional way (in this case, online): you make a very strong case as to why online learning and all that it implies has proven very difficult for you when contrasted with more traditional instruction and having the materials right in front of you at all times. It is great that you know what helps you learn better versus what does not at your age of 17.

I would recommend that you finish out the current school year online since there is just over one month remaining until summertime. Also, I predict that schools all across the country will be altering their academic curricula significantly next school year beginning in Fall 2020 due to all students nationwide not only needing to make the internal transition back to the everyday in-person school routine, but also due to the high likelihood that many students at all different levels of education will have either fallen behind in their education due to online distance learning since March 2020, or stayed on task but not received as in-depth a scholastic educational experience given the current online learning climate and what it entails. Therefore, I would suggest that you stay the course through the end of Fall 2020--whether online, or in person if schools across America reopen in August/September. If by that time (December 2020), you feel that school is simply too difficult for you to bear and you are more keen on getting your GED, then you will have had one more semester's worth of your general education under your belt, while then-currently residing as a high school Senior in 12th Grade and your final year of general education at that. At that point, if you really feel like it would be the better solution for you personally and scholastically, then you can check further into getting your GED to graduate high school as a Senior en route to college next calendar year.

I do hope this helps to provide some further insight into the whole process for you. Good luck with everything and I wish you all the very best.