More Active Posts
Front Page
“Gap year”
 |
 28 Comments |
Many Americans didn’t learn the meaning of this phrase until Prince William took a year off before enrolling at St. Andrews, where he spent time volunteering in Belize, Chile, the UK, and Africa. It’s a very English thing, the gap year - and something we’ve talked about before. I’ve seen studies that suggested students could indeed benefit from a productive year between high school and college, taking a fulltime job, volunteering, traveling, growing up a little. I’ve heard anecdotal evidence, too, where students, after a gap year, find they are more responsible, make better grades, and generally appreciate the freedom to study. World Hum has praise for the gap year here.
It’s something I could imagine encouraging in my own children, once they get to that age. But I’d want to make sure it had a purpose and wasn’t just an encouragement for them to stay away from formal education. I’d want there to be a plan about where they might enroll, and what they would be doing in the year: something productive, challenging, and redemptive. I worked for a year in the professional theater - writing, performing, answering phones, everything - before enrolling in graduate school for playwriting, and the experience colored my entire graduate school experience for the better.
Did you do a gap year? Do you know anyone who did?
 |
Topic: WorldMagBlog |  |
Email a friend |
 |
Keywords: culture, education, work |  |
RSS 2.0 |
 |
Both comments and pings are currently closed. |  |
Share this: |
Soul searching
No - I think that for me, it wouldn’t have been good. I would have had to work full-time, so charity work or volunteering wouldn’t have happened. And, once you are out of the school world, it can be hard to go back. Continuing from high school was easy. Taking time off, having money and freedom, then going back? Not for me.
However, for kids not focused on a major yet, or a school, or a plan in general, that may be a way to get focused before wasting a lot of money.
I had a gap year, mainly because my parents weren’t quite ready to let me go.
Later, though, I was quite glad I did, because my uncle was diagnosed with cancer that fall and died in the spring. It was my last year with him.
I rode my bike around the country (USA) for 3 months - not quite a gap year but more like a gap 1/4 year.
Oh, this was after getting my engineering degree, not high school. Should have read first…
I had a gap year, after my first year of college. Thank you Uncle Sam. FTA! Fun, travel and adventure! Actually I had 2 gap years. Texas, Germany and Alabama. I sure was lucky to not see SE Asia.
I have no idea whether it did me any good or not. I am glad I went though.
I started one university and didn’t like the very first day, quit and went to secretarial school (that went over well at home!), then worked for a year or so and finally went back to a smaller college. I have never regretted learning how to type and take shorthand. It has helped me in every job I’ve ever had. I wish I had planned that gap year, I really do. Not everyone is ready for college right out of high school. (I also think kids shouldn’t go from college to law school, that they should have a year or so out there supporting themselves.)
I had a gap 5 years. I did not know what I wanted to do and the high school counsel advised my brother (in the same boat) to take time off, so I did too. I am glad I did, as now I am doing what I really enjoy, and got better grades in college than I did in high school.
I had a gap 3 1/2 years. I joined the AF out of high school. One of the wise decisions I made in life. It gave me a good chance to mature and gain some self confidence. I doubt that I would have made it in college just out of high school.
My recent high school grad daughter is going to take a gap semester. She is going to work at an orphanage in the Philippines until December 29th, starting college January 17th.
I expect it will be life changing.
It is easier to take a gap year when your country has socialized medicine. Most policies do not cover children over 18 unless they are enrolled in a school. One has to have some means to just take a year off and do charity.
KI,
Exactly. Though out health insurance covers our kids till they’re 21 if living at home.
Gap years are luxuries for the rich.
The only people I know who have gapped were British, wealthy Eton alums. But for them it was very good. Most traveled and brushed up on one of the five languages they spoke.
My gap year was spent following the Grateful Dead.
Regrettably, kids these days don’t have quality rock-bands to follow around.
My gap year was unintentional. I hated high school and had no plans to go to college. A year of hamburger joints and pizza parlors made college look like a breeze and I now had a little money to pay for it.
KI, Adios, as I posted at #7, gap years may also be for the poor. A hitch in the service for a young man is not wasted years and, indeed, may be beneficial.
Adios: A young person who does not know what to do with life is better off working for a few years until a career choice is known, rather than wasting time and money in college classes that don’t mean anything. Don’t you think?
I took a gap three years and tried to live like Jesus did, traveling from city to city presenting the gospel to whomever I met. I lived with the homeless, rode freight trains with hobos, gave what little I had to feed the hungry.
I hiked city streets, mountains and deserts, walked beside still waters and lived a life of prayer and fasting and study of the Bible many hours a day. The grass was my floor and the stars my ceiling at night. On some days I woke up with deer and wild horses. On other days I woke up under bridges or in alleys to the sounds of the city.
Why did I do all this? Well, I took the Bible literally. Later I learned the following verse and came back to civilization and settled down with a family. This verse is inscribed inside my ring.
There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. Eccl 2:24
Would I do it again? I am not sure, nor would I necessarily recommend it. But I’m sure I learned the true meaning of the Bible better than any seminary can offer.
Gap years are not only for the rich — but the non-rich need to plan first and/or find an organization who takes volunteers to where they want to go. It helps to have relatives and friends around the world if you plan to travel.
I recommend a gap year or more for just about anyone since high school grads are rarely ready for first year university.
I did not take a gap year, and for me that was the right choice. I knew what I was going to study, had the funds to go through college without racking up debt, and was academically ready.
However, I think gap years can be a good idea. It very much depends on the person; a close friend of mine did take a gap year, and for that person the gap was the right decision. Neither of my two sisters who have been in a position to go straight to university after four years of high school have done so, and I think for both it has been/will be beneficial.
I should mention that Daughter L #2 did not know what to do after high school. She continued working her part time job and living at home. During that time, she became a Christian and now wants to do what God wants her to. She hopes to start a the vocational/technical school next fall, if there is an opening. Sometimes, a gap year can mean eternal life.
I didn’t take a gap year, and I don’t think I would have benefited from it. Once I was in the educational groove, I probably needed to stay in it until I finished.
I watched many of my low-income students say they were going to work a year, then go to college. I imagine most of them did not follow through–life often gets in the way.
I took a “gap” six years…because I was poor.
I graduated from high school early (16), and for two years after I graduated our family lived in a place where there was no human possibility for me to get a job (we were out in the “country” far from everything, and I didn’t have access to a car). Once we moved back to civilization, I took a while to find a job (it was hard to find one that fit the family qualifications–I wasn’t allowed to work after dark or on Sunday, it had to be within a mile or so in order to bike/walk to work and have my mom not worry about me, and of course they had to be willing to hire someone without experience). But I worked about three and a half or four years before college.
I knew what I wanted to do from the time I was about 14, but since I’d be putting myself through, going to college right out of high school was simply impossible. But I know that at 22 I was more dedicated and worked harder than my younger peers. For instance, by the time I graduated, I had a good resume (career-related work, internship, and writing clips, as well as great references) and most of my peers did not. So I moved right into my desired job rather than something related that might eventually get me there and might not.
I think a gap year might in some ways benefit the poor more–they won’t waste money they don’t have on the wrong college or major, they gain some job skills, they find out how hard it is to make ends meet at an entry-level job, etc. And they just might find out that they have the kinds of job skills that don’t require college to do well, as my younger brother has.
I saw too many kids in college who DIDN’T take a gap year, and were thus sick of school before they hardly even started college. I think some of them might have gotten their motivation back if they’d had some time off, as I did–I absolutely loved the chance to be in school again.
Very interesting story Cheryl. My son didn’t take a gap year and he didn’t do well in his first year of college. Now he will be doing a five year tour in the Marines instead.
I am hoping that being away from school will give him a desire to go back some day, especially since it will be free!
Xion, the Marines may be good for him. Read my #7. I have a nephew who joined the Marines. He didn’t even finish high school, took GED. He was in twelve years, then got out and went to college. It took a while, but he got a degree from San Jose State (I think it is).
My son took a couple of “gap years”. He didn’t see the need of going to college when he could be making money. Besides, he was going to me a multimillionaire rock star by the time he was 21. So he already had a job in a restaurent, had worked up to dishwasher, and finally cook. He and the manager were robbed one night while making a deposit. He noticed the manager wasn’t making real big bucks. And, fortunately, his band broke up. He had wanted to be on his own, so he had moved out with three other guys (the band). (One smart thing Elvera and I did was decid we wouldn’t subsidize his living away.)
Finally, he decided to move back and went to No. Va. Community College.
He decided, before he got his two-year degree, that he wanted to be an engineer. So, after graduating from NOVA, he got married and went to the U. of S.C. in Columbia. I agreed to pay his tuition, books and fees. He & wife kept them fed. It took another three years to finish.
He’s a chemical engineer now.
I am taking my thirty third gap year. Does it count if the gap never closes?
Fourth son is on his gap years after three years of college. He never did find a major (he was in electrical engineering because he wanted to be a pilot) but he did find a beautiful wife. He is spending his gap time at the beach, then may or may not return.
First took no gap year, second took two, and third took none. Guess it kind of depends on the kid. Verdict is still out on the next three.
I had a gap year and my daughter is in the midst of hers. I am a firm advocate for them, especially if the student doesn’t feel ready for college.
My gap taught me that I did, indeed, want my college degree. I got it for no one else but myself. My daughter is reaching the same conclusions.
A student need not go directly to college after high school in order to grow up. As long as they are doing something improving/productive, I think it’s an excellent idea.
A student isn’t likely to have the freedom to travel and/or pursue an interest later in life when financial and work responsibilities bear down. What an ideal time to go and serve, perhaps see the world.
Perhaps if more students took a gap year, then we wouldn’t have quite such the ‘Animal House’ culture we have on so many campuses. Perhaps more students would study because they want to.
This thread is an exercise in trip planning for me. I’m planning on taking a gap year after I graduate Hillsdale in ‘10. In order to avoid the brain sprain of twenty years of education in a row, I hope to take a three-month cross country bike trip, and then spend the rest of the year learning Spanish, backpacking and freelancing before heading to CU Boulder for Rhetoric.
I know that my gap year will provide me with many stories to illustrate articles, lectures and sermons. Not to mention, conservative women are hard to find in Boulder (someone please prove me wrong …). And finally, the allure of the hobo- bikebum-peripatetic lifestyle is far too strong to pass up, especially at this, my last chance in life to claim youthful irresponsibility …
Good for you FredBill. I’ve always wanted to do that, but now my knees are getting old. Do it while you are young!
I’m currently in a gap year. Went to Bible college for a 1-year program when I graduated from high school, but in order to avoid 30k in debt, I’ve decided to hold off a year before transferring to a more expensive college. (I’m planning on transferring in as a junior, thanks to “Running Start”, a state program where I could take community college classes before graduating form HS. I’ll be getting a BA in Electronic Media - Interactive.)
I’m working on getting more work right now, but I think I’m going to like taking this next year off from school. I’ll also be able to graduate with minimal debt this way. (Assuming I can find a job…)