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
2
students in 2006” (Curtis, 2014; Curtis, Mlotkowski, & Lumsden, 2012; Lumsden & Stanwick, 2012). Even though many claim that it
Going to college requires careful thinking which not all teenagers have completely figured out how to do. “Gap Year: 5 benefits of Delaying College, By Peter Bamper, is an argumentative essay about the many benefits of taking a gap year before going to college from high school. This essay will explain why taking a gap year is highly beneficial for a student planning on going to college. Saving money is one of the most important benefits of taking a year off before college. According to the author, college tuition is not cheap but “waiting a year will help you and your family save money”.
For some students, the question of what to do after high school may be a burden to even contemplate as it approaches quicker and quicker. The pressure to continue another four (or more) years of education after high school can be overwhelming considering twelve years of schooling has already been completed; why go right back to school again? When’s break time? Some people are simply just not ready for college and they know it, or at least until after they have had a long break or have had some time to recollect themselves. Technically speaking college isn’t for everyone, nor is it necessarily needed for a career. Luckily today, there are many other options that potential career seeking beings can get a head start on such as community colleges and trade/vocational schools. These alternatives to a four year college are considered to be a good start on a job (and maybe even a career). The best benefits of these alternatives involve the cost of attending, the student environment, and the degrees offered.
Since the student is currently learning some independence, this is a great time where they can get to know themselves better. During a gap year, students have the opportunity to get to know them as well as learn what they want to do in life (Ma, 2014). Back in 2013, there were interviews given to many students at different universities, about their experience with a gap year. A student by the name of Eden Full, Princeton University, stated that since he was young, he was always on the path to success. With a gap year, it had given him time to learn some new skills and explore some new interests that he had never had before (Lazaro, 2013). Another student by the name of Tiffany Yanagida, a computer science major at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, stated that a gap year had given her some time to find out her future career path. This was something that she had no idea about at the young age of 18 (Lazaro, 2013). This is a great time to have fun, build up your social network, and go out and enjoy the world.
After discussing future’s plan with Amanda, she discussed her future plans of becoming Human Resources Director in ten years. Career development and planning serves five essential purpose: encourage, develop new skills, alleviate plateauing, satisfy employment, and increase employment. My ultimate goal when developing a model a career planning for Amanda, I would want to use the Waterloo University Model. I would want to model each essential factors of the key points stages. These stages include
Schlack states, “Other honorable non-college choices right out of high school include military service, cultural immersion while working in an overseas country, mission work in Central or South America, becoming a nanny, a hospital aide, or teaching English overseas.” Schlack believes many of us should be preparing for the work force instead of college. It's never brought to the reader's attention that going college, in fact, assures you more money than not going to college at all. The author is also assuming that the people that don't go to college are willing to go to the military or work overseas, Not going to college is choosing a harder life in the future. Another example the the author gives for students who don't chose college is a “...‘Gap Year.’ It’s the year after secondary education in which the graduate times time off for travel, work or public service before making a decision whether to go to high education.” Schlack introduces the idea of a gap year but never explains how it’s beneficial for one's future. Either way, taking a Gap Year is not a the best idea, most students who take a gap year find it hard to come back to all the stress that school comes
In trying to persuade my skeptical parents that a “gap year” will be beneficial, I will have to establish ethos and appeal to pathos and logos in order to convince them to approve of a “gap year.” To establish ethos, I’d discuss my status as a current student in the high school system, which provides credibility as I have the experience and personal knowledge of the scholastic system to form a trustworthy argument. My appeal to logos would be the use of famous and successful figures of society who took a “gap year” between high school and college. I’d also research statistics on the grade point averages of college students who took a gap year and compare them to those who went straight from high school to college. Lastly, I’d appeal to pathos by addressing the mental and physical strain high school has taken on me and how a gap year will allow not only a de-stress period but also time to explore who I am and the world around me, which will cause my parents to empathize with my scholastic experience.
The words “career counseling” and “substance abuse treatment” on the surface appear as two completely isolated areas, with little interconnection. Personally, as an individual in recovery from addiction, as well as professionally, working as a drug and alcohol case manager, experience has shown me that vocation is very relevant to this population. It is one of the primary goal areas in which I work with my clients on a daily basis. Many of these individuals have completed treatment and are looking for new ways to enter the workforce and provide for themselves and their families, while also battling past career mistakes and missteps. Furthermore, education levels have
In order to pursue my dream career in being an addictions counselor, I require a higher level of schooling to ensure that I will be doing a good job and be the perfect fit for my clients. There is a lot of courses that one can take in order to be an addictions counselor, but for me I got my eye on three. Firstly, I will need to have more studies in maths, this can be about any high level math class like algebra or business mathematics. For example, Indeed shares that you need to use math to understand how to build successful statistics (Ring). Thus, as an addictions counselor, I must be able to calculate factors like a drugs dosage and what it means to my client quickly in my head. Secondly, I will need to know about alcohol and drug abuse to be an effective counselor, this class is essential to be an addictions counselor.
There comes a time in life where individuals have to leave school to join the world of work whereby they will work their way up to the top. This is where career development comes into place. Career development is defined as progress through various stages in a career (Schreuder & Coetzee,2011). These are stages one goes through in order to mature in a career and for development to even exist, one has to start with making a career choice then developing it .A career choice can be defined as the relation between people’s personality types and their different occupational environment in which they work in.
By taking this time off to explore what life has to offer, this decision has made several students feel more mature as young adults. They were able to understand who they have become, and able to handle pressures in life that came along such as basic stereotyping, patience with others, and feeling more mature than their peers when they return to college. With using a year in between school and college, one can defer their application to college and go figure out what type of person they will become. Some get upset with going to college that first year and by taking the year off, most students come back with some life changing skills that enable them to have the traits, skillset and firsthand knowledge to deal with the first year of college situations such as parties, ethics, and alcohol. Most students feel that by taking this time off, it helps in their growth and not just mentally, but spiritually. One female even lost faith during her first year as a result of her experience. After hearing of the rape of one of the orphans, she recalled her religious doubts: “How can God let this happen?” (Shea, J. pg. 570). Many colleges are allowing more students to apply for a gap year. “In 2009, Princeton University launched a fully subsidized international volunteering gap year option for incoming undergraduates to encourage an international perspective and
Though a generally overlooked and unappreciated field of work, career counseling has made significant impact in the field of psychology. Frank Parsons’ 1906 lecture, “The Ideal City,” emphasizes the need for young people to receive assistance in choosing a vocation (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013). Further, Parsons was one of the pioneers in linking personality traits to vocational success, thus coining him as the father of vocational guidance (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013).
Gysbers (2003) proposes that the value of career theories comes from providing practitioners with a framework to examine client behaviour, help understand the possible meanings of or explanations for the behaviour and subsequently, enables them to identify and respond to clients’ goals or problems. Significantly then, such theories may help explain an individual’s vocational behaviour, such as their initial career choice or later aspects of career development. This essay attempts to identify the theoretical framework that will underpin my guidance practice in the future.
School counseling as always caught my attention. When I started my higher education, I had a focus on studying Elementary Education. However, after completing a college assignment for one of my psychology course, I found a very interested area in Psychology which is counseling. Since then, I have falling in love with counseling, and have spent a lot of time researching the career. I have conducted different interviews and have engaged in different counseling events that have helped me get to know the career. Therefore, when given this assignment, I felt more than prepared because I have spent a lot of time researching this career. However, I used the given source, ONET, to have more of a broad understanding about School Counseling.
This lesson mainly addressed aspects related to career development. This lesson encourages students to discover their academic and personal strengths, their skillsets, and their interests. Students then take those concepts and apply them to career exploration. They are able to link their strengths, preferences, and abilities to potential future career paths. Some of the specific aspects of career development that I addressed include applying planning and career exploration in setting and obtaining lifelong career goals, applying necessary skills for career readiness and success, and teaching students where and how to obtain information about post-secondary options. In this lesson students are encouraged to apply decision making skills to place different careers into the appropriate career fields. In doing so, they are also encouraged to begin thinking about careers that are of interest to them and what career goals they have for themselves. They will be given resources in order to continue career exploration outside of the classroom. While I do not expect sixth graders to fully decide their career path, it is my firm belief that it is never too early to get students thinking about careers and having them set goals in order to obtain the career and future that they desire. I also believe that this unit touches on social and emotional development as well as academic development. This lesson allows the student to collaborate with one another and work in groups as well as in pairs. This promotes relationship building and teamwork. It also allows students to take an inventory of their personal strengths and skillsets. This could boost self-esteem and promotes a sense of self-awareness. Lastly, this unit also encompasses academic development. Students will understand that good grades and academic success are key elements to obtaining the career that they wish to have. By being academically successful, this will allow them greater options and opportunity post high school graduation.
The career services professional supports the educational mission of a college by assisting students to develop, evaluate, and pursue career aspirations with the goal of securing employment. Career services professionals accomplish these goals with a range of programs, counseling and services designed to help students make the connection between the academic environment and the workplace.