The General Education Diploma (GED) as a Springboard to Success?: Black Women, High School Education, and Community Values

Abstract

This study reflects the experiences of four Black women who succeeded in gaining their General Education Diploma. Their experiences in high school are a poignant example of the way in which talented youth are displaced in formal school settings. Their stories of learning to live with a minimum level of education provide the background for the study of their motivation to succeed. The twenty‐seven interviews reveal the reasons for dropping out of high school, the situations that led to them returning to school, and the results of them staying on long enough to complete the General Education Diploma. Also, the participants reveal character traits that make their commitment to overcoming obstacles a strong feature of their journey to higher educational credentials. Through the lens of the women's determination to succeed in formal education we are able to understand the formidable odds that they have had to endure as Black, female, and literate in this society.