From my experience most people think they know what a gap year is, some of those who think they know, infact have a skewed idea of what a gap year is. So, for the sake of everyone being on the same page, let 's go over a typical gap year; a gap year is a time that graduating high schoolers take off between graduation and when they enroll in college. The amount of time they take off varies, but most commonly around a year is taken off. There are many reasons that make a gap year a good idea for someone, such as: needing a break from school to “reset” in a way or not knowing what you want to do for a career and instead of jumping into college and working for a degree that you likely won 't use. In fact only 27% of college grads have jobs related …show more content…
Not only do the numbers agree, but students themselves have said that after participating in a gap year program, they feel those that they have a greater sense of purpose in these studies and are more driven. (Loftus)
Many students admit that they feel burnt out after spending 10 plus years in school and they have pushed so hard for so many years to get where they are. Taking some time off to catch your breath and see that there is a lot more world outside the walls of their high school can be life changing. Earlier I mentioned a chemical engineering student that took a year off, he felt burnt out and tired of the study machine he had become. This is his story of breaking out of the “norm” and his success because of it:
Burnout is one of the top reasons students take a break, according to an independent study of 280 gap-year participants by education policy experts Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson, authors of "Gap Year, American Style: Journeys Toward Learning, Serving, and Self-Discovery." That was true for Kenneth Hubbell, now a Princeton junior from Anchorage, Alaska, who pushed himself to excel in high school, was active on the debate team and volunteered regularly. "I poured so much energy into it. At the end of four years, I was tired of being that person," he
Dagarin
The idea of having to go to school every day for at least twelve years conjures a lot of different emotions – some may be excited about the idea of learning new things and exploring their minds, while others may be exasperated just by imagining the curriculum they must complete during this time span. The term “senioritis” is derived from the feeling of irritability during a student’s last year of high school; this can cause a nosedive in GPA, lack of effort in assignments, and leaves the student with little to no determination to finish the school year. With this said, as years pass through a student’s academic journey, their passion, if there ever was any to begin with, is likely to dwindle down by the time
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.
Adult students' participation and persistence in educational activities ranging from adult literacy to doctoral programs is a complex phenomenon involving an array of factors. Adults are often affected by situational factors beyond their control—job, health problems, financial problems, legal problems, personal or family problems (Belzer 1998). Likewise, dispositional factors such as expectations, self-esteem, level of family support, and past educational experience, can be barriers to participation (Hubble 2000). Institutional factors such as red tape, program fees, scheduling, and procedures can either help or hinder participation (Quigley 1998). In fact, adult students who drop out are often actually "stopping out"—that is, interrupting their studies but planning to return (Frank and Gaye 1997)—or attending other institutions (Hoffman and Elias 1999).
For years, parents and educators have debated the advantages and disadvantages of the traditional school calendar, which has long summer vacations for all students.The longer you are away from school, the more you lose what you learned in the previous year. Studies have shown that children who know English as a second language benefit the most from year-round education because during the long summer break, they may not hear English for several months. Long summer breaks is a problem for traditional schools and the solution is to substitute traditional schools for year-round schools.
There is more time to become more social with friends or having more time to complete university work.
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
Have you ever began a book only to find that after a few chapters into it a more important task comes up that must be given attention to and you don’t make it back to the book for some time. The ensuing matter has been taken care of and now it is time to finish that novel that thought was so great you just couldn’t put it down but, where did you exactly leave off and what character are doing what now? Often it is required to skim a few previous chapters to get a sense of what is going on to give the full focus to the new events taking place. As the summer ends, the leaves begin to change and our school children return to the classroom to begin this very similar task. Instead of rereading a few pages, teachers must review with every student were they are scholastically and every student is very different. Almost a month into the new school year last year’s material is covered and reviewed. Our traditional school calendar may be to blame for our failing schools systems. Can schools attending year round with smaller gaps of time off from learning benefit the student learners? Better retention of material, higher graduation with college enrollment increases and safer downtime alternatives are a few reasons why the traditional education plan should be done away with.
You’re coming back from a well needed break from school and you feel invigorated and ready to start. The first few weeks are the hardest to adjust to because your brain hasn’t been used throughout the break. The dilemma with breaks, such as summer break, is that one loses valuable information from past academic courses that are essential to ones progress towards higher education. Imagine a whole year without learning and then coming back to intense rigorous classes at a University. Seniors at high schools over the nation have the opportunity of taking a year off before committing to a college. This is known as a Gap Year; instead of directly enrolling into a University many students feel the need to take a break before starting their education towards their future career. Yes, a Gap Year does sound pleasing and beneficial, but in the long run it can be damaging towards ones future. Students should be aware of the ramification a Gap Year brings, such as, the possibility for enrolling in a graduate school is lower, academic growth is reduced, and social obstacles become present.
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,
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.
An opposition brought up about students taking a gap year after high school is that they will fall behind and get stressed trying to play catch up after a long
We all need a break from school, whether its going from high school into college, or during college. Even though there’s a risk of losing momentum after a long layoff from school, its an opportunity to regroup and explore more before taking that next big step into college, having figured out what you want to do in the future. Not only will you able to rest your brain for what’s upcoming, this allows to be fully confident on a major that interests the student, which allows for an easy transition into their careers, and they can have a chance to explore the world at their free will without be strained.
Students who take a gap year regularly go on to be successful in college. Even though people might not go back after that year is over, everybody should think about the idea of taking a year off because it has a many amount of benefits and 90 percent of students who take a year off go back to college and graduate and it gives you a fresh start entering college.