Every year no more than 40 seniors at New Trier decide to do a gap year once they graduate. I always have wondered why it isn't more. Taking a year off to be free from school and do anything that interests you has always been something that I have wanted to do, and as I get closer to finishing high school it seems more and more like a reality. Whenever I mention gap year, I occasionally get the response like "Really? What are you thinking?". That response normally comes from students that have parents breathing down their necks about ACT scores and their grades. These students are the ones who are aiming for the prestigious colleges, like Princeton and Harvard. In reality, lots of prestigious colleges actually encourage it.
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Why might this be? In an article by MSNBC's Danielle Wood, Wood explains, "The reason behind higher education’s support of the gap year is clear: Better-prepared students mean higher completion rates. And it’s completion that matters. Parents should remember that getting a kid into college is only half the battle." Now that we have that out of the way, let me explain what intrigues me about a gap year.
After 12 years of schooling without a break (a legitimate break, not like summer vacation where we still have to do lots of summer reading), I feel like I haven't had the opportunity to do what I want. A gap year gives me that opportunity. I plan to do a road trip across the US for a couple of months, and experience life in a way that I want to. Not that I hate school or anything, but I feel restricted in the classroom, learning things like the periodic table, something that I know I will personally never use again. Being forced to learn these mundane tasks has let my mind wander. A kid needs an adventure every once in awhile, that's how we learn. School has not supplied me of that, so taking a year off to do what I want, when I want, seems like a perfect opportunity. If you are reading this and seek that adventure in your life, rather than brushing the idea of a gap year away, look into it, there are lots of different things you can do, and lots of experiences to be had.
I love the idea of a gap year and I believe that alternative experiences, like a gap year, are the ones that have the most influence on someone's development as a person. I have a friend who is on her gap year right now and someone was said the only reason she did it is because she's lazy and didn't want to start school early. In my opinion, spending 6 months in Africa isn't lazy. A lot of kids simply aren't mentally mature enough to handle college - which fits into the "completion" problem that a lot of people face when they realize they don't know how to handle the stress of college. Taking a year off for an adventure, like going to Africa, gives their brains a break from school but it also helps them to find out who they are outside of an academic environment and grown as a person. Alternative options, especially gap years, are becoming more accepted and popular as people are starting to realize that starting college right away may not be the best option but to each his own experience!
ReplyDeleteI think that the idea of a gap year is an interesting one. For a lot of students, it's an incredible experience. I know a girl who is currently doing a gap year and she is having an amazing experience. She just got back from Brazil and she said she never felt more alive in her life. However, I do believe that there can be legitimate reason for not taking the gap year. For instance, as an athlete, I think it would be a huge risk to take a year off and try to play on the team that you were expecting to play on and then realize that everyone is now a year ahead of you. I'm sure in other instances for students that are really into theater or other highly rigorous activities, it would be extremely risky to just take a year off. But I definitely think that had I not decided to go down the pathway of pursuing athletics in college, I would probably have the idea of taking a gap year on my mind.
ReplyDeleteI also find it interesting how little amount of people take a Gap year at New Trier in comparison to Australia or Great Britain. Over winter break, I met an Australian family with three teenage daughters. It was fascinating to hear how almost everyone in Australia takes a gap year before college. The adventures they had sounded thrilling--between the three of them, they had traveled to Asia, Africa and Europe! Hearing about their experiences made me wonder if the culture of New Trier has made students lock themselves onto a path--but how does a set path and plan leave room for new self-discoveries?
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