'Nobody is losing out': GED program to get made-in-Canada replacement
General Education Development course had a lot of U.S. subject matter, students say
Adult education courses that been offered in Canada for decades are being phased out and replaced with a new made-in-Canada program — a move welcomed by some Prince Edward Islanders who took the test in its previous format.
The U.S.-based General Education Development (GED) program is coming to an end in Canada this May, to be replaced by a course with more Canadian content, compared to the predominantly American subject matter in the previous offering.
Successfully completing the course gives adult students the equivalent of a secondary school or high school diploma.
One of the current program's graduates is Jolene Millar, who quit school at age 16. She took one of the last GED courses offered on the Island before the change of curriculum.
She says she struggled with some of the course material because of its heavily American subject matter.
"A lot of the questions revolve around the states, and where they are located on the map, and their American history, and their presidents," Millar said in an interview. "I don't remember learning that in school. It's very frustrating."
The new program, called the Canadian Adult Education Credential (CAEC), was developed in Alberta. It will include a full slate of new tests, in all five required subjects: reading, writing, math, science and social studies.
The new program is coming to P.E.I. in May, the province said in a statement to CBC News.
"Students who do not complete the entire GED program by May will have their completed exam results transferred to CAEC, and those scores will be recognized for the next three years," the statement said in part. "They will complete the remainder of their testing under the CAEC program."
Educator says GED 'needed work'
Barbara Macnutt, who started teaching adult education in the 1980s and continued in the field for nearly 40 years, said the change to P.E.I.'s program makes sense.
"The GED needed work done," said Macnutt, who's now retired. "The GED was American from the beginning. So the time came."
Hearing about the switch worried her at first — wondering what would happen to students who won't have the GED finished by the May 3 deadline.
Macnutt said she was comforted to learn that credits already earned will transfer to the new program, as the province confirmed to CBC News Thursday.
"Nobody is losing out," she said.
'Live your life. Go do this.'
"When I was in high school … I went through a really hard time," said Tanner Murdock of Stratford. "I didn't end up completing my Grade 12 year."
But a few years later, she got her GED certificate.
"I realized that I could do school, that I was capable, I was smart enough, and I was strong enough to do the things that I needed to do to support myself," she said.
So she did. Last May, she earned a diploma in early childhood education.
"It just made it that much easier because I knew I could do it," she recalled. "And my high school experience wasn't my future."
As for Millar, she is going back to school again — taking courses in medical administration.
Her advice to anyone thinking about taking that next step?
"Live your life. Go do this. It's the best thing I've done."
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With files from Wayne Thibodeau