Importance of a High School Diploma/GED

[steve-in-kville]

Poll question: within your particular church community, how important is finishing school and/or acquiring a GED?

Obviously the job market is not what it was two years ago. Before that, most skilled labor jobs required a diploma or equivalent. Now, its hardly a requirement for many skilled labor jobs.

Vote and discuss. Lets try to keep the insults and political banter to a minimum, please

[temporal1]

i chose neutral.
i’m not Anabaptist, but i don’t recall graduations of any description to be matters churches focused on.
i don’t recall formal ed being a focus. altho, graduations, along with other life events/milestones, might be mentioned in newsletter notes or in informal church announcements.

btw.
great clarity in your subject line, poll heading/question, OP.

[Josh]

I’ve never been asked to show mine.

[steve-in-kville]

I think it will go without saying that the more progressive end of the Anabaptist spectrum, the more education is valued.

My older children were educated in a mennonite school that didn't go beyond the 9th grade. I had pushed for them to get a GED, so that they had something. They found work after school and are happily employed. There was always a "pipedream" of being business owners or self-employed, though.

Keep in mind, some of my children are brilliant scholars, others do well in the trades.

[Grace]

I think that if a young person has aspirations to pursue a career in a field that requires a higher education, a diploma is very important, such as a career in nursing. On the other hand we see many within the plain communities here in Lancaster County, who have a mere 8th grade education, but have thriving and very profitable trade businesses. I can look around in our church on Sunday mornings and see some who have businesses worth millions, with only 8th grade educations. And many of their employees have the same level of education, or maybe a high school diploma.

Having an open mind to learning a trade from an experienced person goes much farther than a diploma does. Secondly being willing to work hard and having lots of common sense goes a long way as well. We need highly educated people in society, such as doctors, nurses, CPA's, those who work in the mental health fields, etc. However I find it sad when the highly educated have lost the capacity to reason with common sense.

[steve-in-kville]

Having an open mind to learning a trade from an experienced person goes much farther than a diploma does. Secondly being willing to work hard and having lots of common sense goes a long way as well. We need highly educated people in society, such as doctors, nurses, CPA's, those who work in the mental health fields, etc. However I find it sad when the highly educated have lost the capacity to reason with common sense.

Couldn't have said it better. This is exactly where my wife and I are.

[temporal1]

Having an open mind to learning a trade from an experienced person goes much farther than a diploma does. Secondly being willing to work hard and having lots of common sense goes a long way as well.

We need highly educated people in society,
such as doctors, nurses, CPA's, those who work in the mental health fields, etc.
However I find it sad when the highly educated have lost the capacity to reason with common sense.

Couldn't have said it better. This is exactly where my wife and I are.

It’s entirely probable, the fruits of the 1970’s move to “college diplomas for all!” have ripened/over-ripened.

It was about to get worse. The 2007-2009 bank failures interferred. (From where i sit.)
i noticed, the powerhouse that was Oprah, was mega-pushing ADVANCED degrees for all! 4 year degrees were no longer sufficient.
Before the bank failures, Yuppies, materialism, et al., were running rampant. THE LOVE OF MONEY.

The bank failures set people back, not an entirely bad thing, at all.
Locally, it slowed conversion of rich farm land to sprawling subdivision development.

i also question where priorities are in education/employment.
In the list below, doctors, psychiatrists, dentists, were not near the top 10.
Many desireable professions are not even named! Technology is the major winner, tech is driving the world.
i doubt this will trend toward healthy societies.

“The ‘best job in America’ pays $145,000 and has 14,000 job openings — and offers a generous work-life balance”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-b ... 1643775252

“50 Best Jobs in America for 2022”
https://www.glassdoor.com/List/Best-Job ... KQ0,20.htm

Should there be alarm that the lion’s share of lucrative employment named ^^ is in data-data-data/technology??
Doctors, psychiatrists, dentists are not near the top 10??

“It takes all kinds to make the world go ‘round,” i’m hesitant to believe techy brains should take such priority.
Techy brains are valuable. But, not in such imbalance.

They pay themselves so well. This was noticeable from the start. Early graduates with computing skills could expect generous starting salaries, even with 2 year community college certificates. They are good with numbers, they know how to pay themselves.

i’m just not convinced techie brains have all that’s needed for healthy, functioning societies.
i sense disproportionate outcomes.

i.e., overly robotic answers for the world that needs Jesus, who is more than tech “efficiency.”

[Josh]

We need fewer highly educated “experts” who crash the economy, cause mass unemployment, and whose nutrition / medical advice leads us to a country where over half of children are obese.

[temporal1]

We need fewer highly educated “experts” who crash the economy, cause mass unemployment, and whose nutrition / medical advice leads us to a country where over half of children are obese.

i went for my eye exam yesterday.
this doctor/surgeon and i often squeeze in interesting little conversations as he works.

he mentioned (about political regulators) “it’s as tho they DON’T WANT doctors in this state!”
i mention the article above with “50 best occupations,” that doctors, psychiatrists, dentists are not near the top 10.

we talked about how the professions and lives of doctors, teachers, etc., have changed over decades.
before “college degrees for all!” - these were highly respected professions. now they answer to politicians, insurance industries, etc.

Josh, you probably can describe better than i.

“college degrees for all!” guaranteed banks they could not lose. accountability was out, banks prospered.
academic standards plummetted.

[Ken]

As a HS teacher I frequently have this conversation with kids.

What I tell them is that for the duration of their adult lives they will constantly be sorted. Those who get promotions and those who don't. Those who are eligible for x-job and those who are not. Those who get interviews and those who are not. And that when they are 18 and lack much in the way of work history, the fact that they completed HS and didn't drop out is really one of the only way that employers have to judge them. Whether they are the kind of person who can take on a task and reliably complete it or not. I think a HS degree becomes increasingly unimportant as one develops other professional work history. I don't care in the slightest whether or not the 50 year old plumber who comes to my house has a HS degree. But a plumbing contractor looking to hire an 18 year old may use that as a criteria to distinguish between two possible candidates.

I also think there is a difference between insular conservative Anabaptist communities who have actually laid out productive pathways for their young that don't involve a HS diploma. Like the Amish. In contrast to the more ordinary HS dropout who just lacks the motivation to even finish HS but who has no specific reason not to. I see a lot of kids aimlessly drop out into dead-end jobs and eventually regret it. But these are kids who lack the support of a community to provide alternate pathways to a productive life.