I worked at a community college for a while that had a GED program. i came out of that experience with mixed feelings. on the one hand, I saw a lot of people - especially folks who were immigrants that were simultaneously learning English and making the sincere effort to catch up on an education that had been denied them by various means, as well as people who were local but also for various reasons had missed out on public education - whose genuine desire to learn and to have completed the academic process I found so admirable that i was able to turn my eyes away from the other hand –
which is that i really just think it’s another way to suck money out of people so that they can be shovelled into the gears of capital.
“pay us to give you the paper that will allow you to more easily sell your labor (for less than you’re really worth)”
how does it distinguish a person?
as far as im concerned, it doesn’t. i mean, like with point 1, i don’t want to diminish any person who is able to obtain a GED’s accomplishments, but if i were an employer (which I most certainly am not), would i value someone with a GED over someone without? frankly, probably not.
We love our poorly educated 
I worked at a community college for a while that had a GED program. i came out of that experience with mixed feelings. on the one hand, I saw a lot of people - especially folks who were immigrants that were simultaneously learning English and making the sincere effort to catch up on an education that had been denied them by various means, as well as people who were local but also for various reasons had missed out on public education - whose genuine desire to learn and to have completed the academic process I found so admirable that i was able to turn my eyes away from the other hand –
which is that i really just think it’s another way to suck money out of people so that they can be shovelled into the gears of capital. “pay us to give you the paper that will allow you to more easily sell your labor (for less than you’re really worth)”
as far as im concerned, it doesn’t. i mean, like with point 1, i don’t want to diminish any person who is able to obtain a GED’s accomplishments, but if i were an employer (which I most certainly am not), would i value someone with a GED over someone without? frankly, probably not.