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. In the U.S. …show more content…
Pressure from grades, jobs, social lives, relationships, and other difficulties can contribute to the added stress of making it through high school. Consequently, students may be especially vulnerable to mental health issues with the added stress and pressure of college. Taking a gap year can give students time to mentally decompress, reducing many of the stressors that have accumulated during high school. Academic burnout is one of the biggest factors for dropouts (add more). A gap year can be a chance to decide what to study in college, as many students leave high school completely unsure what career path to take. For these students, taking a gap year can be an opportunity to find a job or internship that may give them the indication as to what they enjoy and would be interested in studying in college. For most students, a gap year has an impact on their choice of academic major and occupation, either setting them on a different path or confirming their direction. “60% said the experience either set them on their current career path/academic major or confirmed their choice of career/academic major". (Parents). A gap year not only ensures the path of a teen but by taking a gap year it can also improve a student GPA. "Robert Clagett, who served as a senior admissions officer at Harvard and is also the former Dean of Admissions at Middlebury College, has found that those who delay a year before starting college, …show more content…
Working during a gap year is the perfect time to build up savings before beginning at a university. Establishing a good work ethic can lead to good study habits. Not only can working provide someone with valuable experiences, it can also improve a resume. Standing out of the crowd is a great way to get attention for a good job or acceptance into a university. Taking a gap year to study abroad can open many doors and help teens become better equipped to identify and interact with people from other cultures. “With so many international experiences available, more than 80% of gap year students say their experiences make them more globally aware” (Salisbury). In an expanding business world, increased cultural awareness and even language skills will help future teens of the workforce be more successful in their careers. Many students pursue volunteering during their gap time. Hundreds of organizations offer the chance to volunteer nationally and abroad. Spending a year volunteering can help increase your sense of community while making a real difference in the lives of the people of developing countries. Using a gap year to go abroad can help build a network of contacts which may lead to a paying job and also shape the student into being a more independent
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
Community colleges in California should offer two years of free education to students that are responsible. First, by making community college free for two years, struggling low income families can get a two year education at their local community college. By going to a free college people can save money for two years and transfer out to a better college with the money that they have saved. More student will switch from expensive colleges, and come to a less expensive college and acquire their Associate's degree. Next, some of the students will realize that they are going to graduate from an expensive college, and they are going to leave with a diploma and a huge debt in loans. Some people just need an Associate's Degree to get the job that they want and people can get that in two years. For example to become a police officer, people need an Associate's degree, and be twenty one years of age. Last, the crime in the cities will be reduced if community colleges would offer free education. Most people that are in the streets doing bad things are the ones who dropped out of high school because college was going to be too
"Why Take A Gap Year? - Thinking Beyond Borders." Thinking Beyond Borders. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
If you’re anything like me or any other high school student you know that stress season is coming. It’s a joyous time where students unite to form study groups and enjoy the last two weeks of the semester before they go off into the boring period of “winter break.” Of course, no winter break is complete without the wonderful problem filled stapled stacks of papers handed to you as you walk out the door the last day. When you get handed that packet you know that those long winter break days that seem to last forever be no more thanks to all your teachers. May the rest of your day be filled with bliss and delight. Now this stress season isn’t simply the last day of school it’s so much more than that. It all started on November 9th oh yes the marvelous first day of the last grading
With higher education academy decision letter beginning to arrive, soon to be high school graduate starting to visualized their campus life. Another alternative has emerged and should be consider as a primarily option. It is gap year. Gap year is a year that high school graduate takes off before go off to college. It is widely consider as an option in Europe as it should be in the USA. Gap year has been showing magnificent benefits in student’s life. Due to most high school graduate student still has not fully developed a solid career path nor area of study, life experience and most importantly a desire to continue college with purpose.
Many (Numerous) Schools in Michigan have switched to year-round school. The state of Florida shouldn’t convert to year-round school. Countless kids attend summer jobs to pay for school. It would be really hard to attend their job for 2-weeks every 6-weeks. Other students attend sport’s teams and may cause mayhem for the student. The year-round school schedule will also make it hard for parents to find childcare or babysitters. Even though, many students and teachers less and spend less time reviewing material. The state of Florida shouldn’t switch to year round school there is no proof that it helps students academically.
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
To begin with, if a student decides to take a year or more off to work, it can encourage that person to not go to college at all. Once a student starts working they get the taste of money and feel like if they are receiving enough money to pay their bills, so they continue to work rather than go to college. For example, a member of my family decided to take a break for a year before going to college and began working. Many distractions came along the way which caused her to not go to college. She now tells me how much she regrets not going to college when she had fewer responsibilities to handle.
Sage, Dr. Kingsley. “Taking a Gap Year During University Can Be Damaging.” Prlog.org. Press Release Distribution, 6 August 2013. Web. 1 May 2014.
But there are many countries where a gap year is encouraged and forced. "There is no point in taking a gap year if you do not plan to make the most of your time off," says Prakriti Malhotra, Director of Operations for Gap-Guru, a U.K.-based gap year organizer specializing in trips to India (Tomer). Gap year programs are offered at many universities and would be the best choice to make when deciding to take a year off. With a gap year program, it gives you a way to learn and experience new things even though you are not in school. “’A gap year program offers a valuable break from the relentlessness of the education system and gives students a greater perspective on their own life and the world around them,’ says Malhotra. ‘Gap year travelers often return with greater confidence and a much more open-minded and mature approach to life, which can help them to gain greater focus for college life and improve their interpersonal skills for their future career.’ Plus, students get to travel to incredible locations (literally, pick a spot on the globe) and discover new cultures, often while making a difference in underprivileged communities”
This includes just working, volunteering travelling the world, and many more different experiences. The options are endless. If the average postgraduate enters the working world afterwards, it would allow them to explore the careers that are available. Often, they start off with an entry-level position which allows them to gain responsibility and learn how to control their finances better. More common than not, post graduates often devote their year off of school to volunteer work around the nation and world. This allows the students to experience different cultures throughout the nation and world. “Compared with people that do not volunteer, the odds of being ‘very happy’ rose 7% among those who volunteered monthly and 12% for people who volunteer every two to four weeks”(). This shows that volunteering can greatly improve people’s well being. This is a great activity to participate in while taking a gap year because volunteering stimulates people’s brains, encourages happiness, and looks great on job and college applications. It helps provide a sense of responsibility while allowing students to indulge in certain activities that they enjoy. In addition, the satisfaction they feel from knowing that they are helping
“Taking time off helps students refocus and recharge for the rigors of college - and also fosters their emotional and intellectual maturity. Some who have done it claim that taking a gap year helped them reapply to a college that previously turned them down. Most professionals don 't recommend doing [a gap year] just to position yourself and improve your resume. There has to be a greater sense of purpose.”
A gap year is a break from education, although it sounds crazy but It can be taken at any time, but most often occurs after graduating high school and before starting
In the last year of high school most students are wrapping up the remaining credits needed to graduate. There usually consist of one or two major core classes and the rest are electives or early dismissal. Once the year is finished, all that’s left is to walk across the stage. By taking a year off of school many of the students will have second thoughts about going to college. Many students would get white college jobs such as a cashier or a retailer, as they work and college large sums of money. They believe they have a nice sum of money where going to school isn't needed. AS half of the students are getting jobs. One fourth of the students are getting in to trouble. By the time most high school student graduate you are b...
They also come out of high school burnt out, tired, and bored. The idea of a gap year is for students to put off college to take time to refresh and figure out their life plans before starting to early and making mistakes (Danielle). Linda Lee writes in her article, “What’s the Rush? Why College Can Wait”, that the idea of a gap year is supported by a few colleges such as Harvard and Princeton as well as some others, these colleges like the idea of gap year because they believe that it can help students get more experience to make a decision in what they want to do exactly and come back the next year and execute their plans. Students that take a gap year are able to take scholarships from certain organization such as American Gap Association and USA Gap Fairs, which promote gap year. The idea of gap year is to help prepare the students for the next year and also help them become more experienced. By taking a gap year, it also can look beneficial on your application when you take time off gaining experience by volunteering, working, interning, or