Rebecca Works for Her GED in "Return to Amish"

I talk a lot about Sabrina when I talk about "Return to Amish," but that's largely because I like her ongoing interactions with former cast members from "Breaking Amish LA." But I also really dislike some of the other case members. Abe and Rebecca are a challenge to watch. They are very insular and they don't do well with groups -- Rebecca in particular. So it's painful for her to create wedges between Abe and Jeremiah or Abe and Mary. Plus, their ongoing shunning of Sabrina is pretty bad in my mind.

But one thing has really impressed me about Rebecca this season. She has gone against her husband and worked to earn her GED. Which is no small feat, given that her educational background is minimal at best. But things have gotten to the point where her children's educational knowledge is beginning to surpass her own and she's smart enough to realize that she needs to grow in this area.

We learned at the beginning of the season that Rebecca is functioning at a 7th-9th grade level when it comes to Language Arts, she's functioning at a 4th-5th grade level in Social Studies and History, she's at a 4th grade level when it comes to Math, and her Science background is virtually nonexistent. But she persevered at her lessons each episode despite struggling horribly with the subject matter.

She ended up taking the exam for her GED in this weekend's episode -- and she failed. Basically, she doubted her abilities and began to panic. She had to write an essay for the first time ever. She was presented with several complication math problems at a time when she barely had an understanding of multiplication and division. She ended up fleeing from the classroom and then turned to her husband for support.


To his credit, Abe was pretty sweet to his wife. Even though he didn't want her to get his GED, she encouraged his wife to keep working -- and I hope she does!