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From Soldiers to Students: The Tests of General Educational Development (GED) as Diplomatic Measurement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 October 2017

Ethan L. Hutt  and
Mitchell L. Stevens
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Abstract

The GI Bill's college-attendance provisions posed an evaluation problem. How would returning veterans, most of whom were without high school diplomas, be judged fit for college? Drawing from a variety of primary source material from the years surrounding the close of World War II, we show how leaders in government, the military, and academia cooperated to produce a measure of college fitness that would deem virtually all veterans fit for college entry. We use this historical moment to develop a novel theoretical insight. Measurement is diplomatic when it facilitates transactions across institutional distinctions while recognizing and honoring those distinctions. This insight has broad utility for students of American political development.

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Articles
Information
Social Science History , Volume 41 , Issue 4 , Winter 2017 , pp. 731 - 755
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association, 2017 

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