Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Counselor's Desk

The high school has received several calls concerning G.E.D. classes. The time and place has now been set. Classes will begin Monday evening, September 9, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the Prescott High School building. Instructors will be Sammy Loe and Dorothy Smith.

G.E.D. classes are open to all adults, age eighteen and older who wish to complete the requirements for a high school equivalency diploma. Interested persons will first take a locator test covering math and vocabulary. The results of the locator will determine which one of the four levels of placement tests a student must take. Each student will re-test in the spring to determine the level of progress made. A certain score must be earned before a student will be allowed to take the actual G.E.D. test. Around forty hours of instruction are also required.

The final G.E.D. test is only given at the Adult Education Center in Texarkana. Those who pass and earn their diplomas also take part in a very nice graduation ceremony.

For years, it was said that the minimum education with which a person could get by was a high school diploma. These days, the number of adults who are returning to G.E.D. classes is evidence of that. Oh sure, I realize there are people who have no high school diploma who are making much more money than others with a college degree, but they are the exceptions. A young person who doesn't stay in high school and graduate is just marking time in most cases. Most of them usually wind up returning to the G.E.D. program. Thank goodness it's there for them.

Last week, I announced that we had enrolled thirty new students at the high school. Actually, we enrolled a few more, but we had several "no-shows." After scheduling, we ran a student count. We are now exactly at the same number we ended with last year. We lost the same number we gained. So after all the work of enrolling, I now have begun the task of sending records for our transfers. I've never worked so hard just trying to stay even.

We're still standing on top of each other in our office. Every day something else comes in to be stored or kept up with. To add insult to injury, our air conditioner went out this week. We have fans sitting everywhere, and one can imagine what they do for our stacks of papers. From reading this, one might also deduct that I'm not off to a very good year. Truer words were never spoken. But I'm just trying to follow the advice of our elementary principal, Mr. Howard Austin: "Keep a good attitude!"