Gap Year Essay

In order to accommodate the year round calendar, there are several forms of year round education. The first form follows a single track calendar. This is the most popular type of calendar (Shields, 2000). A single track year is usually implemented to “provide a more balanced and enriched education program or to accommodate the special scheduling needs of a community” (Glines, 2002, 2699). A single track calendar takes on a 45/15 design. This is where students go to school for forty-five days in a row, and then have a fifteen day break. It is a continuous cycle. Schools usually begin in early August, and follow this pattern four times to complete the school year (Glines, 2002). The three week break in between is called an intersession. During this time, students can choose to take additional educational courses through “remedial,

Many teachers take graduate classes during the summer vacation period to catch up with new curriculums and advances in technology. Teachers will find attending professional conferences, staff development activities, and college courses more difficult. A teacher who was part of a year round system recounts, "I found myself going through 3 school years without that opportunity for self-assessment and planning for the future of the educational program." ("The Effect of Year Round Schools" 1999/22 February 2005). With a much shorter summer break, teachers will not have enough time to increase their education, which can benefit the learning of their students. For these reasons, year round schools are not as beneficial as the traditional school year.

Summer break is supposed to be a time of rest and rejuvenation for students. After nine months of hard work and challenging classes, one would think such a long break could do nothing but good for students; however, this is not the best way for young minds to learn. A three month break is far too long for children to go without proper education and supervision. Instead of a long three month break at the end of each school year, why not give students the same number of days off but spread them out more frequently throughout the year? Year-round education is a more efficient, globally competitive, and fair alternative to the traditional nine month school year.

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.

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.

Under a year-round schedule, the students benefit by having smaller breaks, meaning they can quickly snap back to previously learned information. When information is stored, but not used for an extended period of time, anyone can lose that information. Due to the shorter breaks, students may find it difficult to find a summer job, or a job at all, but there are jobs that work with students or maybe just limit their time at the workplace.

However it can be argued that the more frequent breaks throughout the year will leave students feeling refreshed and ready to continue learning when they get back. In the proposition detailed above, students will have a series of breaks throughout the school year, with the longest being three weeks over the winter holidays. This gives ample amounts of time for families to vacation and celebrate together and hopefully leave the students feeling refreshed and ready to learn when they get back. It was also indicated by administrators that “renewed motivation and continuous injection of new ideas maintained a higher level of enthusiasm than [students] had experienced in their previous traditional calendar schools” and that they fully believed this was a critical factor in improving student performance throughout the year (Shields). It should also be noted that the vast majority of jobs offered globally do not have a summer break, and by shortening summers from 13 weeks to 7, students will be more prepared to enter the work force once out of school, and should have an easier time transitioning into the year round life as opposed to students used to taking 10 to 13 weeks off at

Due to the three month break teens often spend much of their time taking a vacation or working. Many of the ‘’older students might suffer financially because during this time they would normally secure full-time summer employment during a traditional summer break.’’ (Pearson, p. 6) There also wouldn’t be as much quality family time spent that students can simply get from vacations. ‘’It would have been extremely difficult to have family time together.’’ (Wildavsky, p. 18) Which many won’t get after their high school lives considering how busy their college and work life can

It is time to make a decision regarding what to do after high school. The most popular decision is to go right into college. Some students say they would like to take a year off before going to college. This is called a Gap Year, meaning they have a gap in between education. Some do well, and prepare themselves for college, while others do not. Those that do take a year off have time to explore what life has to offer, and takes advantage of the deferment application, become a better person.

Education is a never-ending learning process that has always been a piece of our life. As education is a building block in our lives, we are eager to put profoundly into our education. Good education will lead us to the bright future. With the fast advancement of public opinion, we have entered an era of information explosion which the necessity of studying abroad has turned into a developing pattern among youth. Most of the students feel that studying abroad is better than studying in local universities. As the saying goes, “the grass always looks greener on the other side of fence.” In this way, I believe that considering abroad have extraordinary points of benefits.

Before I start I would like to give you a little background on Gap Year.

Vacations, meeting new people, getting a job, saving money, and moving out from a parent’s house seems like a fantasy and something that everybody would love to experience. This is what students will do or plan to do in a gap year. A gap year helps students find out who they are and learn about the world around them. Many students have found out it is not as great as they thought it would be. The executive director of Dynamy Internship Year disagrees and says "While there is significant peer pressure, parental pressure and

“Gap year” is a common word for a lot of college students because taking a one-year break between high school and college is a good choice for the high school graduates. More and more high school graduates want to take a one-year break before they go to the college. In fact, some people agree that taking a one-year break is good for those students who just graduated from high school because they can learn different life skills and new things between college and high school. Other people think that taking a one-year break is bad for high school graduates because they will forget some knowledge that they learned in high school. In my opinion, I think that taking a one-year break (gap year) is beneficial for the high school graduates.

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

Most students are not over the pressures of being a senior in high school. That’s why the gap year should be taken to release all the stresses of high school. Most students cannot take being stressed out so decide to wait. These students are not capable of attending college due to their mental stability. Being a college student directly from high school could take a great toll on a person physical and mental state.