Some 800,000 people take the test every year. The Army has already increased its intake of GED recruits to the maximum. But over the years, the military has had well-founded reasons to limit recruitment of GEDs. First, experts disagree about the GED's ability to measure academic achievement. What really worries the military, however, is not intelligence, but persistence.
Many dropouts are bright, but all are proven quitters, the logic goes.
If they dropped out of high school, they'll probably drop out of the military as well, wasting recruiters' time and the armed forces' training dollars. Statistics support this common-sense conclusion. For enlistees with GEDs, it's 49 percent. But Rep. Rodriguez said that ''a damn survey'' does not tell the whole story and that undoubtedly some GED-holders have the dedication to succeed in the military. Rodriguez should know.