Gap or Go?
Here’s a parental conundrum:
Your academically-gifted child is a shoe-in to be accepted into many fine universities. But instead of sending out applications, your child says he wants to take a year off after high school: a time of self-discovery, travel or good-deedery.
In Britain, such gap years are popular among youth. But here, it can seem pretty scary to families that don’t want their child to fall off the get-a-college-degree-or-else wagon.
I took two gap years. I had no money to travel and volunteerism was not on my radar. I just wasn’t ready to commit to the rigors of college work, socially or academically.
Instead I took a series of minimum wage jobs that eventually made me realize I wanted more out of life. I enrolled in college more focused and mature.
Obviously not every student is the same. Some will travel Europe, get inspired by the old structures and decide to become an architect. Others might simply laze around their parents house, and use their gap year as a nap year.
What do you think? Have you or your child taken a year off before college? Was it rewarding?
Susan Simpson
Education Writer
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