Taking a “gap year” off between high school and university has become a popular alternative among many adolescents. A “gap year” is a period of time, usually an academic year, when a student takes a break from formal education and routine (“Gap Year.”). This time off provides a break after many years of formal study and is often spent travelling or working. In the past, taking a gap year resulted in problematic return into education. Today, however, they are generally seen as positive and are supported by Universities and employers. The idea behind a gap year is that it offers opportunities practical experiences, which enable young people to learn more about themselves and what they want to do in their future. While education is unquestionably crucial, learning experiences outside of the classroom are equally, if not more in important. While Gap years can expose adolescents to danger, further putting their academic future at risk, the innumerable positive aspects take outweigh these adverse possibilities. Accordingly, the teenagers of the United States should take the option of a gap year into more serious consideration than in the past.
While gap years are gaining popularity in the US, as seen in Figure 1, they are far more common in Europe and Australia. The concept of a gap year originated in the UK in the 1960's and has long been considered to be a rite of passage there. Statistics from UCAS, the British Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, substantiate this as 5% university applicants in the UK deferred admission in 2012. Statistics from the USA pale in comparison, where an estimated mere 1.2% of first-time college freshmen deferred admission in 2011 (Moy). The conventional American life plan of school, co...
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...t. 2012. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. .
Kristof, Greg. Personal interview. 20 Feb. 2014.
Moy, Jennifer. “Why Are Gap Years More Common in Europe than the US?” Go Overseas. Ed. Nadja Mubashar. WYSETC Organization, 25 July 2013. Web. 22 Jan. 2014. .
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Murray, Phil. “Preface.” Foreword. The Gap-year Guidebook 2012: Everything You Need to Know about Taking a Gap-year or Year out. 2012 ed. Woodbridge: John Catt Educational, 2011. 8-9. Print.
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The United States has a long and proud history of providing public education to its citizen’s children. The fundamental idea behind the creation of this educational system was that it be available to all, regardless of geographical location or family status. In the era that this initiative was generated many of America’s families lived and worked on farms, and children were a vital part of this lifestyle. The founders of the United States’ public schools had to create a plan that included all children, even those who were expected to perform agricultural work in the harvest season. Thus, the nine-month school calendar was brought into use, allowing farming children a three month break from school in the summer to aid their families in the crop yield. In time, youth participation in farming became outdated and obsolete, and this arrangement slipped from necessity to simply being a tradition held on to through the years. In our modern era, a year-round school calendar would benefit the teachers, students, and finances of America’s public schools.
Graduating early is when you graduate before you are suppose to. It was never common because no one ever seemed to think about it or want to put in the work to do it. For a long time high school was defined as the best time of your life. Everyone who spoke to you always said when you left you would miss it. No one really wanted to graduate early for that reason. People wanted to cherish the time they had in high school because they knew they only got to go through it once. It was a big idea to live up to. Senior year has this belief attached to it. It means a lot to people because it is their last year of high school and it was upsetting to know that you’d be leaving the people you have spent the last four years with. People thought you had to have as much fun as possible in high school and do all kinds of crazy things before you turned 18: when you would be considered and punished as an adult. Now those times have changed. High school is not looked upon as the best times of your life anymore. It is looked upon in almost a negative way. High school has changed a lot and it is not very enjoyable now. There are lots of reasons why someone would want to graduate early. For instance, maybe the student was bullied, maybe the student decided they wanted to move on and go to college, maybe the student got sick of their home life and wanted to move forward, or like me, maybe the student has their future waiting for them and all they need is to graduate high school so they could begin it.
First, what must be established is the distinction of higher education and college. Blake Boles, author of Better Than College, writes in his book the distinction between the two. He points out that college is one path to a higher education that ,essentially, is a prescribed path to success, but it does not guarantee higher education. Furthermore, he writes that: “a higher education is first and foremost the capacity to self-direct your life. Someone who has a higher education can define her own vision of success and pursue it, even in the face of difficulty”(Boles 4). There is a common misconception that college is the higher education path that leads to success. This is why parents hesitate to support their children in taking a gap year. They fear that their children will not be as productive or responsible for assignments. In contrast to that popular notion, gap years require more responsibility, if not more. However, in his book, Blake Boles answers the question of how to pursue higher education without college: “instead of following someone else 's curriculum, self-directed learners begin by asking themselves what fascinates and drives them.Their journey begins- and ends -with self-knowledge. Instead of taking full time classes, self-directed learners give themselves assignments that they find interesting, eye-opening and challenging” (Boles 5). With the absence of the responsibility to turn in assignments , prepare for presentation, comes a responsibility to construct one 's own curriculum. This leaves time for pursuing activities of interest. Instead of relying on professors to instruct one on how to go about learning, one must strive to network with people in the field of interest. They must seek mentorship in order to replace the guidance given by a professor. This takes a considerable amount of responsibility, which becomes very achievable since one understand the value
But do kids really belong in college after twelve years of schooling? “The National Association for College Admission counseling has suggested that the practice of taking a gap year is on the rise.” (collegeparents.org) A gap year, is when students take a year off college. What the student decides to do in this case, is completely up to them. This topic is debatable for me. I think that students will slack off if they get that one year off. The gap year is just like a summer vacation, only extended. Students struggle to get back into the habit of going to high school, so I believe they would do the same even if the situation was going to college. A year off may be a good thing for some, just as it probably would have been for Linda’s son. However, I do believe that taking so much time off would be a huge problem for most of
The completion of high school is the beginning of adult life. Entitlement to public education ends, and young people and their families are faced with many options and decisions about the future. The most common choices for the future are pursuing vocational training or further academic education, getting a job, and living independently.
Mallinson, Anne. “From School to Further Education: Student and Teacher Views of Transition Support and Drop-out.” Post School Psychological services 2009: 33-39. Rpt. Vol. 26. Print.
Before understanding the consequences of a gap year, it is important to understand why people take a Gap Year. Senior year can be tense and come with several unanswered questions. Seniors are given four options when leaving High School. Those choices are either joining the army, going straight to work, applying to college, or taking a Gap Year. In a journal by Sunny Niu and Marta Tienda, “Delayed Enrollment and College Plans: Is There a Postponement Penalty?” explains some of the reasons why high school graduates tend to not go directly to a four year university. One of the main reasons high school graduates are hesitant to attend co...
A gap year is a time for teens to take off between high school and college. A gap year is used to travel, work, volunteer or study. In general, a gap year has many advantages. This year out of a school is a good time for students to explore the world and gain valuable life skills and experience while learning to be independent. Teens in the U.S. should adopt the British custom of taking a gap year between high school and college in order to gain perspective on personal values and career goals as well as gaining needed life experiences without the pressure and expectations of a school environment. A gap year is a time for students to become independent and learn a sense of responsibility before entering into university life.
Now looking at both these arguments, it is indeed an important decision to make whether students should take a gap year or they shouldn’t. Thus I’m conducting the research on this ...
A gap year is a period, typically one academic year, taken by a student as a break between secondary school and higher education. Many students consider taking a gap year because they are longing to get work experience and be sure of a career path before they make the decision to head off to college. During those one or two years off before heading to college, students have the opportunity to travel the world, work, experience different jobs, or simply take a break from school. Some parents do not agree with their young adults taking a break from school because they worry that their child will not do something productive with their free time. Although students taking a gap year run the risk of becoming inattentive or accustomed to making some quick cash, and not returning to school, there are numerous benefits for a young adults. young adults to take a gap year off before heading to college; for instance, many colleges want students that are mature and have some work experience.
... How Traveling Abroad Affects and Benefits Teens." Orinda Academy. N.p., Apr. 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
According to “Facts About A Gap Year,” the definition of a gap year is “a break typically taken between high school and college that might include travel, work, study, volunteering, or research.” Several colleges encourage their admitted students to take a gap year before starting their freshman year. Done the right way, a gap year can help students excel, while if a student completely puts aside their responsibilities, it can plummet their success in college. Students who take a gap year after high school not only mature, but also are prepared for college and the rest of their lives.
During the past few decades, traveling has greatly increased. Purposes of travel vary, some travel for business, some for leisure,
And they develop a fuller sense of themselves, undefined by their friends, family, or culture.Gap year is, basically, a half-step out into the world and offers students an opportunity to understand that they can handle it just fine. It makes the later post college change from one thing to another less scarring. The gap year gives a student the opportunity to find out what they want to do do in life and gives them time to think about the major of their choices some students leave high school with one major and then take a gap year and come back with a different major. Gap Year graduates report that through the summary of their new experiences they were better able to identify universities that fit their personalities and career desires to do great things. Finally, while we don 't suggest this as a first or more important, many students do report that taking a Gap Year enabled them to get into better
Regrettably, some students must drop out of school and use that time to get a job to help support their families. Female students who become pregnant have to drop out to take care of their child. Poor choices constrain some students to land themselves behind bars before their education becomes complete. Primary caretakers becoming ill and/or dying can force high schoolers to drop out and to take on the role of their family member, who has now become unable (“School Dropout”). These events can leave kids all over the country with two different options that have a few stunning similarities; receiving their GED, or dropping out of high school without a