this joke tells itself

Posted about 1 year ago

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Gretchen Wilson

Country star, 34, finishes high school NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- Country music singer Gretchen Wilson has a mantel full of awards in her Lebanon home.Her first radio single, "Redneck Woman," spent five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and it earned her a 2005 Grammy. Her debut album sold 4.5 million copies.Despite all her successes, the 34-year-old singer and songwriter was one of 20 percent of Tennesseans without a high school diploma. But no longer.Wilson, who dropped out in ninth grade, passed her General Educational Development exam in April and will don a cap and gown during a May 15 graduation ceremony.Wilson told The Tennessean that her 7-year-old daughter was the big reason to finally finish, saying, "I certainly don't want her to think you can be this successful without an education."

Comments (5)

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Bartleby says According to the OECD's report "Education at a Glance 2007", 79% of students enrolled in secondary education graduated in 2005! -- The average for OECD countries is 82%. Sorry, I don't quite see the joke. Maybe because I didn't like high-school all that much.

Permalink posted 05/05/2008
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carmensandiego says Perhaps you have to be American to get this. Gretchen Wilson is a country singer. The traditional stereotype of country musicians and their fans involves bad teeth and a severe lack of education. We call them rednecks, and they're associated with the American south, including her home state and mine. So, the joke is more about the fact that it's news when a country singer gets an education. Well, it made me laugh. As for her teeth, I can't comment on them. Never seen them. (Bonus ... One of my father's favorite jokes: What has 100 legs and two teeth? The front row of a Willie Nelson concert.)

Permalink posted 05/05/2008
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Bartleby says Haha, now it makes sense. Thanks for educating this nitwit. -- So country singers tend to bear the brunt of all Dixie jokes, then.

Permalink posted 05/05/2008
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Wahiawa786 says As I recall, Tanya Tucker also passed on high school for Country music stardom. (Did she go the GED route or do something else?) In Hawaii, a number of GED graduates are grey-haired first-generation immigrants from the Philippines, Indochina, and the Pacific islands, who went to work to support the family. I suspect that the second- and third-generation kids of such grandparents buckle down in school...or be compared to not only to studious siblings but "GED grandma."

Permalink posted 05/05/2008
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ivylander says Through a work coincidence, I know Taylor Swift's family. She was a straight A student. Maybe that's why her music sounds so prefab....

Permalink posted 05/06/2008