Another Chance : They Skipped Class as Adolescents, but as Adults they Drop Back In to Study for the GED

The final bell will sound this month for thousands of San Fernando Valley teen-agers eager to embark on Life After High School. They will exchange their notebooks and nerves for credentials and celebrations.

But what about the thousands who didn’t graduate? In increasing numbers, they take the GED--General Education Development tests.

Last year about 4,000 people took GED exams administered by the Los Angeles Unified School District (slightly more than 3,000 passed), and that number is expected to be much higher this year. Across the nation in 1988, 736,655 took the exam, which is run by the American Council on Education in Washington.

“It’s growing all the time,” said Ann Jackson, who runs the GED testing center for the Los Angeles district. “More people are realizing they need the diploma. If you look in a lot of ads, they ask for a high school diploma or the GED. A lot just take the GED, and that’s it.”

Five subject areas are tested: English, social studies, science, literature and math. Most of the exam is multiple choice, but this year’s version has a new feature: a 200-word essay used to evaluate writing skills. Students, who must be 18, have up to 7 1/2 hours to complete the exam, which is given several times a week at various locations in Los Angeles County.

Because those taking the exam have frequently been away from school for years, district officials recommend GED preparation classes. “If a person’s been out of school for a while, they really need that student-teacher relationship,” Jackson said. The GED preparation classes are offered throughout the year at community adult schools and occupational centers.

While most students take the GED to qualify for employment or obtain a job promotion, a passing mark also stands as a symbol of the academic achievement they missed the first time around. Many then go on to compile enough credits to receive their high school diploma, too.

What follows are the stories of three students who bypassed education in their adolescence, but went back for a second chance.

Laura Caponetto

C aponetto attained all the dreams of her Depression-plagued youth in the Midwest: financial security, four healthy children and a tranquil life with her husband of four decades. Yet, at 61, relaxing in her home in Granada Hills, Caponetto admitted without hesitation: “Something was missing.”

The something was education. Three years ago, she started attending GED classes at the Rinaldi Adult Center in Granada Hills. And, finally, last week, after years of uncertainty and growing self-doubt, her mid-life goal came true. She passed the GED.

“I never finished school because I fell in love, and love was the most important thing at that time. It was 1944, I was 16 years old and I was in a hurry to get married. Dad pushed me to stay in school, but Mom didn’t. She was more concerned about there being someone to take care of me.” Her fiance “had three suits and $300 in the bank, and Mom said, ‘You better marry him cause he’s going to make something of himself.’ He was the richest guy around.

“When people asked me about high school, I always told them I went through the 10th grade. I lied. I figured they’d think I was a little smarter that way. I felt very dumb just going through the ninth grade.

“Over the years, I wasn’t able to carry on a decent conversation. I would just sit there and nod my head. I wished I had known what they were talking about. I pretended a lot. People would talk about history and geography and math and things I never studied. I just knew my times tables and that was it.

“I remember once when my daughter was at school and the teacher said, ‘She procrastinates a lot.’ I said, ‘That’s nice.’ I didn’t know what procrastinate means, and so that was one time where I pretended and got caught. I thought later: ‘Why did I pretend?’

“I had four kids, and I helped each of them till about the fifth grade, and then they were on their own because I didn’t know what I was doing. I told them they’d have to figure it out themselves or ask their teacher. Sure, that bothered me. Once, my 13-year-old son was in class and they were talking about parents, and he said, ‘My mom and dad are dropouts and they’re doing OK.’ I felt terrible, so ashamed that he would think this was a good thing.

“And then all the kids had left the house, and I thought how I should go back to school before I got too old. So I started three years ago, and it was hard. I was frustrated by the whole thing. I never thought I would pass. I wanted to quit many times. I had to take some tests three or four times. But just sitting there with all these young people made me feel so great. I’m going to take a computer class, too. I want to keep learning more and more.

“I passed. I can’t believe it. I feel important now. I feel like a real person now. If I were to fill out an application now for a job, I could put that I took high school classes and passed my GED.

“It’s so neat to be able to go to a party and be able to sit and have conversations with people. Real conversations.”

Tami Rae

R ae, 25, takes classes two nights a week at North Hollywood Community Adult School. Seven years after her first opportunity to complete high school, Rae took her GED exam and found out last week that she passed. She continues to take classes toward receiving a high school diploma.

Working part-time as a choreographer and starting up a clothing business in North Hollywood, Rae had tried not to let her lack of education interfere with her ambition. Now she sees education as enhancing her future.

“I want to get a job as a flight attendant, and they said I had to bring my high school diploma. I don’t have one. So now I’m trying to get one.

“I went to Grant High School, and I would have graduated in 1982, but I didn’t care back then. I was growing up in my own little world, and the outside world didn’t interest me. So I failed my classes and even hung out all day in the horticulture class, working with the animals. I had a teacher who let me stay there. He said it was better that we hung out in his room all day than cut school entirely.

“My classes weren’t interesting, and I didn’t see why we needed them. Why did we need American history? Why did we need American literature? It made no sense.

“My parents weren’t crazy about this. They wanted me to finish school, but they pretty much let me do what I wanted to do. We fought about it, but they left me alone.

“On Graduation Day, they wouldn’t let us attend, so we waited outside the stadium at Valley College. We got to hear the speeches, just not see them. We didn’t get to participate and go through all the emotions, and that felt miserable.

“I met my boyfriend right before I left high school, and he had his own sail-board business in Santa Monica.

“But I realized he and I had a communication problem. He was a very intelligent man, and I felt inadequate around him. He could talk about science, and grammar, and literature, and I couldn’t. I thought about going back to school, but I figured I could hang around him and learn more. He was my teacher. But we grew apart. In many ways, because of our differences in intelligence, we were in different worlds. We split up.

“I got my own apartment for a year, but living to support my apartment got old real quickly. I started to look for other jobs, but everywhere I turned, I needed a diploma. I felt like kicking myself for not realizing the importance of the diploma. I felt like I was a smart person, but I needed a piece of paper to prove it.

“I decided to stop looking for a job and begin looking for a career. I’m smart now because I realize what I have to do is change. I just kept thinking that if I learned through my experiences, I would make it. I’d be fine. But I let myself down by not getting my diploma. I let my parents down. And what I’m learning now isn’t so much the knowledge, although that is important. It’s the satisfaction I’m getting from finishing high school.

“I’m back with my boyfriend. I’m able to understand and analyze things better now. Classes here have given me the tools to learn how to evaluate things, to understand how the world works. I want to see the world and see how other cultures work. I want to understand, not be ignorant.”

“I’ll be able to go to the graduation ceremony this year and not stand outside. I won’t have to listen to the speeches from outside. I’ll be there, and I deserve it.”

Robert Murphy

S porting long brown hair, Murphy, 21, seems ready for the next rock concert, not the next history lesson. He dropped out of Birmingham High School near the end of his sophomore year to work as a plumber. These days, he restores classic automobiles, making $9 an hour without a high school diploma.

But three months ago, Murphy went back. He enrolled in Reseda Adult School and passed his GED last week. Good wages were not enough.

“I can be better. I can do better. I can do things that excite me even more. Being an auto mechanic is fun, but anybody can be an auto mechanic. I know there is something out there for me that I am better suited for. I’m getting my diploma to find out what it is. I’m just someone who is searching. Maybe education will help me find it.

“One of my friends in high school had a car. With his part-time job, he could afford gas, and buy beer, and all that good stuff. So we would drive around in his car, and women naturally came along. We’d go somewhere to drink. I could see what a job and a car brought him, and I decided I wanted the same. So I quit. I never even went back to watch my friends on the football team.

“I got a job as a plumber for my dad and was making $10 an hour. Ten dollars an hour! Do you know how much money that is? When you have no rent, that’s a lot. I squandered it away, of course, on friends, and parties, and other charities (he laughs). I bought a car, a V-8 Vega. Women like to go fast; don’t ask me why.

“This all went on for about two years, and that was the best time of my life. During the day, I would go to Beverly Hills and Hollywood and work on people’s homes. I met Gregory Peck and Jaclyn Smith. At night, I would drive my car. Soon I realized what I really enjoyed most was working on people’s cars. So I got this job I have now. It’s amazing what I can do with a car.

“Though I’m going back to school now and feel good about it, I wouldn’t change what I’ve done for a million dollars. I think I had my education when I dropped out. I was smart enough to make decisions, and I had so much fun. Where I worked, they wanted to see what you could do, not what you knew. They respected me. In school, they treated me like I was an idiot. I was continually misunderstood. I am not an idiot.

“I feel a great sense of accomplishment now. You know, I might never had gone back to school if it weren’t for this goal session that took place a few months ago at a friend’s house. This psychologist my friend knew set it up, and we all realized that I needed education to further my goals. I might have been able to go on and keep making good money, but why take the chance? I’m just glad I did this while I was still young and have no major responsibilities.”