The Gap Year Essay

You may find it difficult to persuade your parents to let you take a “gap year” between high school and college but it’s not impossible if you come prepared with a good argument and logical reasons to back it up. In a situation like this, appealing to ethos, logos, and pathos comes in handy. To start the conversation, you want to make sure that you have plenty of knowledge on the benefits a gap year can provide and speak of the topic in a mature manner. This is necessary in establishing your ethos to help demonstrate that you are credible speaker for the subject. It is important to be aware of any objections your parents might have in mind. For example, your parents might believe that staying home will be a waste of time, but refute this objection

This is because this break can cause lost of memory of what was taught in the past. Not only that but if the school would not be year round, it can cause less learning. Which loses the whole purpose of school. Although it might be relaxing to not go to school, it makes lot of side effects that can harm someone mentally. This is because during the break, if a student forgets something that was taught to them, it might ruin their future. Which is why, having school for a longer period of time can be very valuable.

Furthermore, an extra year allows many students to mature into young adults. Maturity is a huge problem in America's society. People who are not mature tend to make bad decisions, become easily depressed, have more addictions, and it can also lead to a bad character.

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.

When I first heard about "impact 360" about a year ago, I will admit that I was fairly opposed to the entire idea of a "Gap Year". From what I had seen, it seemed like an idea someone had come up with, in order to delay the start of the responsibilities of college and life. I ignored the many attempts from my mother and her friend Renee Hernandez, (who is involved with the program), to get me to just look into what it was all about. I wrongly perceived that every gap year program was essentially the same. And from the program's I had looked at they all seemed to be about taking a year off of life's responsibilities, and relaxing with other people your age. That didn't interest me in the slightest, I wanted to graduate high school, and go and conquer college and eventually the world.

For instance if you see you cousins for a longer time you can have a relationship with your family. Also if there are longer days off you can plan a trip to see family and friends that you have not seen in awhile. Furthermore your kids is 15% better behaved when they know when the breaks or off days are. Then again year round schooling will miss out on opportunities to spend time with there family or other friends and still need time to study. Above all kids won't be able to study when they know they are going to see their

Whether students think they will get a good job out of college, most of them drop out.

They will also waste less time and money on schooling because they will be sure of what they want to do and to study before they step foot on campus. It can help students confirm that they do in fact want to continue their education, so instead of simply continuing straight on to college and floundering in their studies and their decisions. “Taking a gap year helps young adults clarify career interests and goals, renew their passion for learning, and develop organizational and life skills and become more globally aware among other things, according to Planet Gap Year” (Rindge, Brenda 4). More often than not, college students commit themselves to one are of study, realize it’s not for them, and then change their major completely about two to three times before they figure out what they really want to do.When students are unclear of what they want to do while in college they end up taking unnecessary student loans. Taking a year off will give students time to figure out what they are passionate about and will help make the right decision. It also saves them money if they decide that college is not the way they want to

The transition from high school to college is not only an exciting and challenging time, but also a great milestone in one’s life. There are several differences between the lives of high school and college students. Some individuals will be able to jump right in and adjust to this change seamlessly, while others may take years to adapt, or never even grab hold of the whole college experience at all. High school and College are both educational grounds for a student to grow and enrich their lives with knowledge. Both are like puzzle pieces: on one side they fit together, but on the other side they are something completely

Arenson, K. 2008 19 February. Princeton to help students spend ‘gap year’ abroad. The New York

Why do people take a gap year? Since all of us are students, I’m pretty sure you would like to hear and know about what a gap year can do to us.

However, gap year is not as fantastic as it might seem. Gap year can make a student lose their flow of things. They will not be so willing to study as they don’t want to go back to the stress and rigor of academic life. It takes the student away from classroom experience. Gap year means that the student will lose a year of learning, of education. It makes you fall further behind your peers; this can put you at a disadvantage particularly if one is going to med school or law school. Additionally some gap years can be expensive especially if one is traveling. This could make college harder to afford. All in all gap year has its pros and cons, but it’s in the will of the student to say how fit it is for them.

Living in the unstructured world, outside of the predictible environment education defines students to for twelve years, can be a bit of a culture shock. This could make students reluctant to go back to a strict schedule after experiencing a new independence. Cheung Hiu Ling brings up the point that, “You have to accept the changes in the education system and the foundation you built before” (Advantages and Disadvantages), in reference to going back to college after a gap year. This is a very insightful quote as the “foundation” of ones educational life can become altered over time spent in a non educational environment. Students may start to take on a new perspective of education as a whole during their gap year. This time in young people’s lives can be very mentally transformative, and to ask someone who has found a new independance to go back into the educational system could be futile.

Various disadvantages, moreover dangers, have to be taken into consideration about the gap year. The notion of going against the social norm and/ or breaking tradition, to a higher degree in the US, can be difficult for adolescents to overcome. As Killen notes

Students could take a gap year to gain perspective on their life. During this time a person will have time to clarify career goals. This time is also gives students time to commit to what is most important to them. Which is the vest decision for them when it comes to their own future?