In his unswerving focus, he is similar to many gap year students. The practice of taking time off after graduating from high school became popular in the 1970s, but it has evolved to connote something very different from the more aimless, Jack Kerouac-inspired adventures of 30 years ago. Like Bill, today's students taking gap years often are among the hardest-working and highest-achieving in high school, and they relish the chance to take a break from studying. But they often apply the same industry and organizational skill that helped them excel academically to excelling during the gap year. They come mostly from middle- and upper-middle-income families and have been accepted into a college during their high school senior year and deferred enrollment. Sometimes, they apply to college during their gap year, enabling them to gussy up their application with an essay about their new experience. Often with the aid of one of a burgeoning number of gap year consulting firms, they take on civic projects, such as venturing to Honduras to build a library or working for Habitat for Humanity in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans. Or, like Bill, hey pursue a passion -- heading to Europe to study art or to Baja California to backpack at the National Outdoor Leadership School.
Taking a year off is one of those things that I've definitely have wondered about in the years since I graduated college; you know, would it have benefitted me and what would I have done? I now have a two-week-old son for whom my wife and I have the highest of hopes, considering that we were both excellent students throughout our academic careers. But 18 years from now, if he wants to take a year off before going to college, will we let him?
Well, if you look at this article here, you see that the students being profiled are the type of high-achieving students that are rightfully looking to get something rewarding out of deferring for a year. Community service, athletics, military service, and even doing some work in their chosen field are all good reasons for leaving it all behind for a year and then going away to college, as long as you follow through on them (which is why stuff like this is only for the high-achieving student ... sorry average kids that are catered to by administrators because raising their SOL scores for AYP are more important than anything else).
And the other advantages I see:
A much-needed break: Yes, you spend that year working but it's a different kind of work. The first semester of college is one of the hardest you'll ever have to go through and you really should expect your GPA to be about 1.0 lower than it was in high school. There's something very refreshing about not having to deal with academic pressure for a year, especially when you can use your experience when you get to college in so many classes.
Social maturity: How many students go absolutely nuts and blow it all during their freshman years? Yeah, exactly. I'm not saying that kids that do this don't go a little nuts but the work done helps instill a certain ethic and a very balanced set of priorities. So many people from this generation have their priorities so far out of whack that strengthening the correct ones is a great thing to do.
Self-discovery: Overall, when you do something like this, you are doing it for yourself and you should take advantage of everything that you can. Being a little selfish in this regard and not putting your girlfriend or friends ahead of everything else is a good strategy at this juncture (and this is where I say that if I'd taken that year off, I probably would have done my girlfriend and not much else, so I'm pretty glad I went away right away).
So kudos to the Post for taking a look at this and good luck to those who are making this choice.
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1 comments:
Kudos to Mike from PlanetGapYear in Boulder Colorado.
Mike, thanks for your comments on the student gap year article, "Eye on the Goal" about the student delaying college a year to pursue his passion for hockey. Your review inspired me to comment! Inspiring people across the U.S., especially parents, to consider the benefits of a gap year before college is laudable! I have planned and taken several several gap years myself, and have researched the phenomenon extensively in the U.S. and UK. At this point it is extremely important to get students, their parents and advisers the information and planning resources on the internet as the gap year trend grows in America. Although some very experienced consultants exist, and are frequently mentioned by name in the Washington Post Magazine's "Education Review", the "average" students need an on-line-resource to empower themselves to plan a gap year. The students taking gap years in the US are capable of doing much of the planning themselves, and benefit more from the experience if they do most of the planning themselves. and their are options that are relatively inexpensive like volunteering with Americorps or CityYear. Of course, we recommend getting Mom and Dad on board they are the student's best resource for financial and moral support. You also make the important point that students taking taking a gap year are typically from middle class and upper middle class families. I would argue that all families, regardless of socioeconomic status, need to have the option of planning their own gap year. My site, PlanetGapYear.com helps students, and highschool guidance counselors access planning information for free on the internet. PlanetGapYear.com shows students, parents and advisers(H.S. Guidance Counselors included!!)how to plan a gap year, find programs and experiences, and get their questions answered. We have an FAQs section for parents and a US Gap Year News feed.
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