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GED FOR THE WORLD

By Profesor Martin Danenberg “El Quijote del GED”

Latin American governments must determine in the 21st Century what percentage of its people it wants to be educated. If the answer is one hundred percent, then adults must finish their diploma after procrastinating for years. The programs that countries already have present limited results for adults. In addressing the poverty of a nation, the education of the people of that nation must be improved, the education of all the people and not just the children.

The GED has helped make America great since the 1940’s. It was developed for young men and women who went into the military. Remember that the United States Armed Forces were segregated until the late 1940’s and I assume that there was unequal delivery of GED services. That is what segregation and unequal civil rights were about. The GED did not affect a civilian population until 1963 or later. Brought into existence during World War II, it has grown to help about 19 million people. But the GED has not leveled the playing field for minorities and the poor. Before 1963 and even after 1963, we probably would find that African Americans were more underrepresented on the GED because of segregation, discrimination, and a civil rights era that had to adjust to changing conditions. GED programs can be accessed more easily in large cities than in the suburbs and rural areas. The great need that exists today in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi is probably the result of all of the abovementioned conditions of the past.

Bill Gates, Bill Cosby, Henry Kissinger, Dr. Richard Carmona, the Surgeon General of the United States, Ruth Ann Minner, the Governor of Delaware, and Congressman Charles Rangel have blazed great trails after obtaining the GED. Millions have gone on to college, obtained higher education, and better jobs with the GED. Families have been strengthened through the GED, but other families have been left behind and for too long. Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson have also earned a GED. I wonder if anyone has read this in the tabloids that feature them on a weekly basis.

The GED is more than a diploma. It represents a revolutionary program of study for people who have not finished high school. It is one of the great answers, for many countries, to improve adult literacy. Since the GED is available in English, Spanish, and French, there are self help books in those languages that can build literacy. I see the deficiencies in people from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Latin America and those people with common deficiencies can improve their math, writing, and reading skills dramatically in weeks. The GED belongs in many programs of community improvement, programs that hope to affect domestic violence and alcoholism in communities. Why? It builds up the self esteem of people and the program shows that government really cares about them.

The GED has been the cement that holds American life together. Normally around 500,000 (fewer since 2002 because of a new harder test) diplomas are issued each year to American citizens, legal residents, and undocumented residents. I have helped Americans, people from Bangladesh, Haiti, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Those people who earn a GED here should be allowed to study in their native countries as well as in the United States and Canada. We, in the United States, have determined how a person may go to the university with a GED. Community colleges accept a passing score of 2,250, the City College of New York accepts 3,250, and Queens College accepts 3,500. There can be no arbitrary conditions that prevent people from making the most of the opportunity to achieve more education. Education has been one of the great avenues out of poverty, giving hope to tens of millions around the world. The GED in other countries like El Salvador can lead to the growth of community colleges and help more people. Latin America needs the GED.

ALL COUNTRIES SHOULD ACCEPT THE GED’S EARNED BY THEIR PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES OR ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. BROTHERS AND SISTERS, FRIENDS, AND COLLEAGUES SHOULD BE TREATED THE SAME IN THIS GLOBAL WORLD. A country consists of adults and not just children who have finished school. The entire adult population can be mobilized, making the work of the schools easier and producing more graduates.

The GED is often difficult to obtain, but for those who have the skills in reading, writing, and math, it is only 8 hours away. It is faster than night school and distance learning. I have actually met a person from Peru who earned his GED after being in the United States for only 3 days. The next wave of immigrants should not repeat the mistakes of the past waves of immigrants. They should do the GED right away or come here with the GED already in hand. All undocumented immigrants will soon be able to study for college and university degrees online with universities in Latin America. If legislation is not passed to grant these hard working people the right to get a college education, they will be steered to online learning.

Since many countries succeed in educating a fraction of their people, the others who are left behind do not have the hope and perseverance to adjust once they have deserted school and this hurts the economy of those countries. The GED should have been adopted by all countries years ago to mobilize the people to great educational and economic success, but it was not. So the GED has been a great American secret. France has an equivalency of the BAC, which I believe is not widely known to immigrants, and by obtaining this equivalency diploma, residents of France are eligible for the free university. I believe that the recent unrest of immigrants in France could have been ameliorated by an educational system that is more open to immigrants.

Gangs are fought in countries largely by police action. El Salvador is often in the news because of this. I was told about a conference of gang members (88 of them) with local agencies in Buffalo recently. My reaction was that I would have given the gang members the Official Practice Test for the GED and mobilized them through positive action and not just words. People in Buffalo slowly get gang members away from their negative life, holding back the community from great progress. El Salvador can develop a more revolutionary strategy for dealing with the gangs. Prevention will work more effectively than the actions of the police alone. They go hand in hand. The educational level of the parents may be one of the key driving forces leading children into gangs in El Salvador. Let us lift up these people and keep their children away from gangs.

A large percentage of African Americans and Hispanics get the GED in prison, instead of outside of jail. Huge numbers of men and women on probation still do not get immediate, effective GED help, hurting their chances of finding employment and leading to a cycle of criminal activity. Many of their loved ones need education too and they can make their lives better together through education and the GED specifically.

When I was in El Salvador in the Hotel Presidente, I was told that a high school diploma is required for a job as a waiter in the restaurant. People who earn a GED can perform those jobs and most others jobs just as well as high school graduates. We have witnessed that here. The GED in all countries can be used for hiring and promotions, as it is done in the United States and Canada. A nation is more democratic as it expands opportunities to people who have not had adequate access because of the system of government and the economic system.

The growth of universities and technical schools will dictate the success of nations in the 21st Century. The GED will create never before anticipated growth in schools, leveling the playing field for all nations. Universities will be able to attract more funding for construction and development as anticipated tuition payments become a reality.

Each nation can expect the development of GED programs. I have a low cost program that mobilizes communities and not just people in classes. The cost of the Official GED test can be obtained from the individuals who need the diploma and from family members who are helping to support them, even members who are outside the country. A bridge of communication can be built between people who immigrated to the United States and their loved ones outside the United States to help promote the GED. Remittances are the number one industry in some Latin American countries and people must learn to get the GED out of they way right away and this will cost just a small amount of a monthly remittance. I expect the governments to assist in getting the word out to the people through the schools. This will reach the parents in every community. In the Dominican Republic, where approximately 700,000 people are working in hotels, getting the word out there will build great GED awareness quickly and effectively.

Here in Suffolk County, Long Island where so many Salvadorans and Central Americans live, candidates for the police department can obtain a GED and begin a career in law enforcement, and it does not even matter if the GED was obtained in Spanish, English, or French. This is how we can move people up the ladder of success. It is the individual that is important and his knowledge and ability to learn that counts. Employers have the right to decline people who have a GED, but since the governments of all the states and Puerto Rico are parties to the GED, the GED is recognized by all federal, state, and local agencies. Private business has the right to decline a GED and so do some colleges, but approximately 95 percent accept the GED and that helps keep our system strong. The GED periodically gets reassessed and the standards are raised, making business and educational institutions happy.

The GED is available now online in many countries. The English GED is now in the Caribbean and the Spanish and French GED’s will be made available to countries soon. These people have to be mobilized toward the GED and millions of our own people, too, have to be mobilized.

GED preparation materials can help students in the intermediate grades and high school, keeping more of our youth from dropping out of school. GED practice tests can identify the errors that intermediate students are making in math and give them a plan to improve quickly so they can be promoted. Bilingual students who are Hispanics drop out at four times the rate as other Hispanics and they, too, can profit from these materials to keep them from dropping out.

Join with me in understanding the GED and its role in the world of the 21st Century. Any plan for this millennium must provide the GED for people who have failed to finish high school. I ask the leaders of the government to provide rapid acceptance of this educational program and to provide a marketing plan that will include the schools, churches, government agencies, the media, stars of sports (what I call the Generation of Sports and Education) and entertainment, and businesses. The GED is important to labor, gang prevention, drug prevention, eliminating domestic violence, military and even improving of the education of police. We can all build better lives for millions of people together. Providing the GED in El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and other countries will permit citizens of that country to take the GED while visiting family, away from the hectic life of work which prevents people from studying or taking the test in the United States. Hispanics are held back in Canada, where nobody is taking the Spanish GED. The door of opportunity must be opened up there, in many states in the United States, and all over Latin America.

MARTIN N. DANENBERG
7 BLAZER DRIVE
ISLANDIA, NY 11749
631-348-1341
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