Making The Grade

It’s never too late to start life again, even for 46-year-old Annette Joiner.

Ms. Joiner sits squeezed between two of her fellow students in a classroom, trying to decipher the meanings of the words distinct and exaggerate on a worksheet.

She did this exercise before, 29 years ago, when she was 17 years old and when it seemed so much of her life was still ahead of her. But she took a job instead of finishing high school.

Fast forward to today: She’s middle-aged with a 22-year-old daughter in college and recently laid off by an air conditioner company. She had no choice; she had to get her GED.

“The company downsized,” Joiner said. “I lost my job in January, and I don’t have my high school diploma. So in order to get a better job, or get a job, nowadays you need your GED.”

Fortunately, Bed-Stuy’s Rite Center at Restoration Plaza is there to help people like Joiner get back on their feet with a fresh start, offering free GED prep classes twice a week on Thursdays and Saturdays, six hours a week.

The class is relatively new at the Rite Center and is led by Theresa Lindsay, a part-time minister and former high school English teacher. Already, she has developed a reputation as an engaging and fun teacher who gets her students to pass the test.

“Scheduling is a challenge, [as I] have students with different shifts, childcare issues, commitment issues,” Lindsay said. “For just a two-day-a-week program, it fluctuates from 10 to 30 students. Every class, I have new students.”

Thirty students in Lindsay’s classroom is tight squeeze, especially since it only seats 15 comfortably. But Lindsay says her students somehow make it work: “They improvise, using my desk, squeeze in, I’m just fortunate they all pretty much get along,” Lindsay said.

Lindsay has a mixed bag of students, some of whom are Caribbean, looking for an American education. The average age of students is 40 years old, according to Lindsay, a number that baffles her.

“I don’t have a clue as to why they wait so long,” Lindsay said. “Sometimes it just takes that long for people to say ‘I want to do something good for my life, and I know I need this to get it done.’”

For Jay Robinson, who’ll soon be 39, he says he always planned on completing his GED, but his plans were often delayed from having to move around a lot.

Lindsay tells her students to plan on attending the class for at least six month before they will be ready for the 7.5-hour test – even if most won’t last that long.

Robinson, currently a month in, expects to be ready by September because this time, he plans to stick to his goal.

“I’m pushing myself. I’d like to get my own business, get into music, movies, anything where there are beautiful women, where the money is at, nice cars, big houses, just the American Dream,” Robinson said.

For Robinson, getting his GED was a no-brainer, but he says getting his friends to also make it their priority remains a challenge.

“I put it past a couple of people, but they say they don’t need it; they feel like they’re too old to get it,” Robinson said. “You’re never too old to get your GED.”

For Joiner, all the motivation she needs is her daughter.

“She makes me come to class,” Joiner said. “Like Thursday, we didn’t have class, and she’s like ‘mommy, why didn’t you go to school today?’ Seeing that she is doing good, I have to at least show her I want to do better.”