Are Gap Years a Good Idea?

As you prepare for graduating high school, you previously determine whether you should enroll into college, or take a year off. In many opinions, there are many negative affects if you decide to take a year off of school, instead of attending after graduating high school. The traditional concept is to enroll into college after getting out of high school, for many reason’s it will be beneficial to succeeding in furthering your academic pursuits, rather than loosing time taking a year off instead of going into college.

College can be costly but you can apply for scholarships and also according to source D you can apply for financial aid and once it goes through it isn’t as expensive as not having anything. A lot of people who think college isn’t worth it mostly take the fact that college does cost a lot and think that since it costs it isn’t worth it. In source D it addresses how the higher education or degree the more you get paid. Time wise it does seem long just to get a 4+ year degree and some think

reactions like non-student burnouts, and no problem’s on forgetting since it is a short break.

There are people that go right to college after high school and doing that may not be such a great idea. There are many reasons why taking some time off after high school would be a good idea. Although, some people may argue that it may not be a good idea to put college off, I believe everyone needs time to experience a few things on their own as an adult before committing to another 4 years of school.

Students could lose momentum to continue with their education after taking a gap year (source 4). Counselors and parents often discourage a gap year because it will delay them in their studies. Students who return to college after a gap year will be behind their peers which can actually lead to more stress (source 3). This is all wrong however and the critics of gap years are the reason more american students aren't taking advantage of gap years. The American Gap Association determined that 90% of students return to school after a gap year (source 1). Those who don't return often found careers that they believe are the most beneficial to their lives that they don't need a degree for. Those who do return after a gap year however feel like they are more prepared for their careers and education (source 2). In other countries gap years are more popular than here in The United States and the reason is students are pushed so hard through high school and the first few years of college that it's looked down upon to take a year off. If the critics of gap years could understand what the majority of students go through a gap year could benefit the students of the states just like it has been helping those in other

Although some students may lose interest and drop out, most will end up staying the extra year. Many kids today go to college after school, so adding an extra year wouldn't make too much of a difference. Students would have the choice to stay an extra year and learn how to better improve their future years or start working right away. Why wouldn't you choose to stay and learn more about being a better employee, thus helping your community?

After high school, most students want to go to college. However, some students do not want to begin college right after high school. This is due to financial problems or students not being ready to be apart from family. The order, in which societies and many cultures have set, for the time in a person’s life, which he should go to college, was set for a reason. Students are expected to graduate from high school, attend and graduate college, then go on to a career. Students who keep this order tend to experience all they can in their earlier years of life, and have a career in which they can use the experiences they have accumulated from college. This will in turn create a financial and stress free life in their adult years. Students should not wait a year before they enter college because they can get involved with things that will stop them from going to college, forget knowledge from high school, or lose out on opportunities because of their age difference.

Four or five years may seem like a short time but really, it isn’t. When it comes to school, I personally believe that students have their own right to choose what is best for them. Either four or five years of school, students are the one learning so they should be old enough to make own decisions. If they think they need an extra year to learn then I suggest they go right ahead. If not, that’s their own rights. They might all have different opinions to this and I believe the educators should respect that. I think it is only right from the educators to discuss this with parents and students. It’s wrong to make an important decision that will affect students tremendously. Afterall, they are the main parties involved.

Taking a year off may have drawbacks that can affect high school graduates, such as lost momentum, lose focus, and career delay. The first drawback of taking a year off is losing academic momentum. High school graduates who fail to develop important study habits might easily forget the lesson that they learned. Moreover, students become idle academically, which leads to losing of study skills. The second drawback of taking a year off is students losing focus. Once students leave the academic setting and get the taste of the "real world," they may never want to pursue college due to distractions or changes. Students who work love making money and lose sight of the idea of going back to college. Also, students find responsibility that might

Students, at last, finally graduated from high school, now what are students going to do next? Well, students are now an adult to make their own choices, their lifestyle, their living expense, travel around the world, party, and so on of any fun or boring activities without any parents or family consents. Students should take a gap year of college because students need that times of year to enjoy their freedom, from all those years going to school, k-12. A year of just not going to school, but to travel the other side of the world. To get experiences from jobs, advice from friends and other family members, or maybe just get training from other volunteer communities or jobs. In, "Postpone College a Year, and Learn a Lot", Meg Gifford mentions that students should take a year off for better benefits. In my opinion, I agree with Gifford for many reasons.

Many high school seniors claim to be burned out from excessive academic study by the time they graduate high school, and so jumping into a demanding intellectual environment such as college seems to them to be a daunting prospect. An excellent alternative to going to college immediately is for the student to take a gap year. A gap year is a year in between graduating from high school and entering college in which a student may learn and grow in ways they otherwise couldn’t if they were in a college classroom. M. L. Savickas explains this transition further in the book Career Development and Counseling: Putting Theory and Research to Work. “The transition represents an important opportunity to enact career goals, self-beliefs, and identities developed during schooling” (Savickas, 2005 pp. 42–70). Some may have apprehensions when determining if a gap year is beneficial for an individual and for society. Some could argue that an individual who takes a gap year will digress academically, or that a student who does not enroll immediately in college will not have the best chances of influencing and benefitting society. However, taking a gap year has been becoming increasingly popular recently, and is apparent in the study done in Australia; “In 1995 around 7% of high school graduates took a gap-year, 12% in 1998, 20% in 2003, and up to 22% of the

In his article, Should Students Have a Gap Year?, Andrew J. Martin states that a gap year is usually defined as a period of time that students take after graduation and before continuing with formal education, training, or the workforce. Americans in particular seem to be

A gap year between high school and college may just be the one thing students need. It provides students with some time off of school, and by taking a break from school, much of their stress and pressure is relieved. There are so many ways to spend this extra year that students gain. The possibilities are endless. It gives people time to gain new experiences. One could travel the world, or simply adjust to a working lifestyle in their hometown. There are countless options to take advantage of and this is simply for the people who are interested in gaining new experiences. The gap year also provides students with some extra time to think about making any changes to the decisions they have already took in regards to their future. They are provided with time to ponder their future and career path. Most of all, it gives them a much-needed break from the strict schedule of school years. For a year, they are given the freedom to do whatever they like and not worry about studying or completing projects or handing in their essays by the deadline. There are so many clear benefits to taking this well deserved break before you begin college. A gap year after the four most stressful years of schooling should certainly be taken advantage of because it gives a student the chance to have new experiences, it allows one to contemplate and finalize their career path, and lastly it grants an opportunity for a student to be relieved from the academic burnout and take a break from the rigid

While beneficial to students in certain circumstances, a gap year’s success ultimately depends on background elements like socioeconomic status. Students taking a gap year must possess a structured plan and must actively seek productive ways to explore their passions to dully utilize it to their benefit.

All are refocused on school because during the vigorous time one spent the gap year, one may have found an internship, or volunteer work in the career of one’s interest. That is what many college want for students that do decide to take a gap year. The college administrators also want student “to improve upon an area of expertise or perform some kind of public service” (Shapira). This allows them to become more skilled in one’s selected area of study, because others are still learning new important life and study skills. As a result “gap-year students at Middlebury and the University of North Carolina maintained grade point averages between .1 and .4 points higher than their gap-free peers” (Greenberg). Gap years are viewed as a chance effectively prepare students for a thorough, and more significant engagement in college education. Therefore, it is contrary to the belief that it supplies the students a break from academic focus. The students that are achieving these better grades are working harder than peers that did not take a gap year. Henceforth, one becomes ready to focus on one’s education.