No HS diploma or GED, but is a CNA?

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In your state, is it a requirement to have a HS diploma or GED to enter CNA courses??

In my state if you go through a cc you have to have you hs deploma, if u doit private you dont. But i have seen that more and more LTC will not hire with out a hs deplpoma.

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Specializes in LTC.

Mississippi will give this to you ORALLY IF YOU CANNOT READ!

Not only will Texas give you the exam orally if you cannot read, it will give it orally IN SPANISH! At my nursing home half of our staff speak no English...

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Mississippi will give this to you ORALLY IF YOU CANNOT READ!
I am in Texas, where the CNA state exam questions can also be read aloud to the test-takers who cannot read or understand the written word.
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Specializes in being a Credible Source.
I am in Texas, where the CNA state exam questions can also be read aloud to the test-takers who cannot read or understand the written word.
That's kind of frightening... and about the clearest evidence I've heard for the lack of importance that we (as a society) ascribe to the care of the elderly and infirm.
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Specializes in PACU, LTC, Med-Surg, Telemetry, Psych.
That's kind of frightening... and about the clearest evidence I've heard for the lack of importance that we (as a society) ascribe to the care of the elderly and infirm.

Yes. That is the reason why some of my posts get a bit on the jaded side. I am not going to apologize to new CNAs either. Truth is a good thing.

If it does make a difference, Mississippi does have one of the stricter criminal background checks. You either have to have a 'clear letter' or a FBI fingerprint rap sheet to present to everyone you apply to. It costs 50 USD and must be paid for by the CNA. It is good for two years.

In other words, they care do not care about if CNAs are dumb, foreigners, or not advancing , as long as they are not murderers, rapists, or have warrants.

The elderly do matter. If there is a complaint, the CNA is easily replaced.

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Specializes in Med Surg/Ortho.

Am I the only one bothered by this? I think it is scary as well. The work might not be complicated, but it is important. I think you should have a diploma or GED. I also think you should be over 18, not 15 or 16. I wouldn't trust most teenagers to watch my children. But to take care of an infirm person with dementia. Yes, quite scary. Not to say there are good CNA's out there that are young, or don't have a HS diploma. But we need stricter standards because unfortunately, there are too many BAD CNA's.

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Specializes in PACU, LTC, Med-Surg, Telemetry, Psych.

The 'bad' CNAs are considered like a 'bad' burger flipper. You get rid of them if there is any complaint. If you can get folks off the street to do it, unlike LPN/RN, you as an administrator feel no pain. (But with the economy and more folks from other fields getting the 2 year RN degree, RNs will face this as well! Some folks are even getting CNA as a 'throwaway' job as opposed to working outside or fast food or walmart)

If someone can not read and is replaceable, they are 'lucky to have a job.'

... and yeah, It does worry me... wait till degree inflation makes it to wear you have to have LPN or be grandfathered in to do CNA.. which may happen.

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.
Am I the only one bothered by this? I think it is scary as well. The work might not be complicated, but it is important. I think you should have a diploma or GED. I also think you should be over 18, not 15 or 16. I wouldn't trust most teenagers to watch my children. But to take care of an infirm person with dementia. Yes, quite scary. Not to say there are good CNA's out there that are young, or don't have a HS diploma. But we need stricter standards because unfortunately, there are too many BAD CNA's.
The problem is, at least around here, it's hard to find enough CNAs given the extant economic realities of long-term care. I'll take a good 16-year-old CNA over a lazy 30-year-old any day.
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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Am I the only one bothered by this? I think it is scary as well. The work might not be complicated, but it is important. I think you should have a diploma or GED.
Important work doesn't always require a formal education. A person does not need a GED or diploma to provide basic care such as feeding, toileting, showering, dressing, grooming, ADLs, bed-making, reporting of changes in condition, and other tasks. This work is extremely important, but a person who has not attained a high school education can do the job competently, efficiently, and compassionately. Some of the best CNAs have never completed high school.

High-school dropouts are not stupid people, since many of them are products of tough social circumstances. I've met high school graduates who are functionally illiterate and can manage to read only at a second or third grade level because they slipped through the cracks of a shoddy public school system. I've also met high-school dropouts who are intelligent, good readers, and critical thinkers, but they simply cannot extricate themselves from their current situations.

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Specializes in NA.

I dont understand why people think just because a person didnt finish highschool it makes them less intelligent or a bad person...

I think that having a clean criminal background record is more important than knowing what the sqaure root of such and such when it comes to being a cna

Highschool doesnt really teach you to be kind, caring and patient.

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I live in fl, and i am taking the cna course, i am over 18 and have not finished highschool. I can pass the exam, get my license and get a job without having my diploma.

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Specializes in LTC.

I'm not sure what the requirements in my state are, but everyone I work with is over 18 and has a high school diploma. Same thing for everyone I took the class with.

There were a few people in my CNA class that caused me to wonder how on earth they were able to graduate high school in the first place but somehow they did. As far as I know none of them are working as CNAs though.

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