The whole story

If you see someone's World War II army enlistment records on ancestry.com and it says they had two years of high school when they enlisted, what does that mean?

A. They dropped out

or

B. They skipped two grades and graduated early

or

C. That it is an error and the real answer is anywhere from 0-4

The correct answer is that you don't know. One of my close friends in college skipped a year of high school and graduated as valedictorian. If he enlisted that summer, he would have put down that he had three years of high school. Now he has a MBA and is a CFO.

I feel that it is ethically responsible to just publish the facts and not your interpretation of them.

Fact: Ancestry.com's WWII enlistment record says John Q. Public had 2 years of high school.

Interpretation: He dropped out.

Grandma Test:

Grandma dropped out of school to help her family during hard times. PASS

Grandma dropped out of school to hang out at local bars FAIL

Grandma dropped out school  FAIL

-andrea