The fruits of education goes far beyond the individual benefits. Looking things at a macro level, education plays an indispensable role in all societies and nations. A country greatly benefits from an educated citizenry. Skills and competencies needed to run industries are mostly acquired through formal education. Further, the values of nationalism, civility, respect, and productivity are generally acquired by people while being formally educated. People develop national allegiance, tolerance to cultural differences, and respect for humanity through social sciences courses. Critical thinking and objectivity are harnessed through courses on mathematics, logic, and philosophy. Humanities, on the other hand, allows for humanistic harmony. A citizenry equipped with all these benefits make up for the kind and quality of each nation.

In America, the status of education can be assessed as generally good. American education system still ranks as one of the most admired paradigm in the whole world. American students keep on excelling in various fields of studies. This is highly evidenced by the highly level of competency found among most American workers and professionals. But despite these truths, reality exists that American education is not totally spared from numerous challenges threatening the well being of American society. There are persisting problems on poor facilities and lack of funding in a number of public schools in many states. There is the decreasing student-teacher ratio. But most alarming of all is the unabated number students dropping out of school. Drop out incidence is especially high in the high school level. For various reasons, valid or not, at least a million of high school students are dropping out each year. The effects may not be felt immediately but at the long run, the fate of the world's superpower can easily become blurry or even dark for that matter.

Although high school drop-outs can land on a number of jobs, the general quality of American labor force is in a great danger of deterioration. Accept it or not, top level positions in all companies and industries require college education. If American youth would easily settle for jobs that do not require a college degree, it is not that unlikely that America will a be a country of low to middle rank labor force. Essentially, there is nothing wrong with that. But the point of the matter is that the increasing complacency denies American youths the opportunity to make the most of what American education can give them. This, subsequently, is generally not a sound idea for the entire American society.

As simple logic would dictate, the imperative would be to encourage American youth to not drop out, finish high school, proceed to college, and then earn a degree. But realistically speaking, this idea is way easier said than done. This is where the beauty of the General Education Development (GED) comes in. GED is a very practical program that recognizes the different realities of the problems pertaining to the education system and focuses on the one where it can be the most effective solution. GED gives the opportunity for those who do not have a high school diploma but are wanting to enter college without having to go back to high school. GED is especially beneficial for adults who at their age realized the necessity of a college degree. It is test that measures if a person has the aptitude level necessary upon entering college even without having earned a high school diploma. In taking the GED, one's intelligence is measured by testing the competencies and knowledge acquired from television, newspapers, books, radio, and of course, life experiences.

However, GED's nature does not make it an easy exam to ace. In taking a GED, one has to prove that he/she has what it takes to go to college. It is not a sort of mere formality measure to take the place of high school diploma. One has to world hard to pass the GED. It's a blessing then that there are websites offering a free online course on GED training. In www.ged.free-ed.net, 74 study units are available for individuals planning to take GED. The training program comes totally free of any charges and is testified by many as a very competent training course. People enrolling to it will be required to do some tasks like reports, journals, and projects to fully prepare them for the GED. What's good about this training program is that students can work on their own pace right at the comfort of their homes. There is even the Fast-Track GED Prep course for those who feel that they only need to be trained in some areas and not at all.

With a program like GED, the status of education in America still has hope to not falter that easily. With more efforts from different private and public sectors, optimism still remains high that the next generation of Americans will continue the supremacy that the United States has been known for.