02-06-12
APLAC A2
Morris
Considering The Gap Year
As senior year fast approaches, students have suddenly been caught in the headlights with future plans. Most of them are working hard and to make those perfect grades, perfect test scores, and overall ideal outlook as a student to the colleges they hope to attend. Throughout the four years of high school, kids have been bogged down with and incredible amount of work; and by the time graduation rolls around they will be exhausted. But that does not stop the average student, as the following fall semester boys and girls are enrolled as a full time college student with plenty of more work to come. But why not take a year off of school to do other equally important things, why not take a gap year? Taking a gap year- time off between high school and college- is designed to be a break from academics before college, for personal growth, travel, or to participate in community service or internships (Mohn, MSNBC). When people in the U.S. think about students taking a year off of school regardless of when it is taken, the student is often thought of to be lazy, or a slacker, maybe even so much as that he or she will never finish and get a degree. What many American citizens don’t know is that taking a year off between school is a custom in many countries. Taking a year off between high school and college termed gap years, is normal in many European countries, and even a tradition in the U.K. and Australia (Mohn, MSNBC). Though it’s not prominent in our society today, gap year is starting to trend among many teenagers making the transition. Although one might think of it as year to relax, it is the complete opposite. Students work hard on different projects of their own; many students also take the time to travel and work. My view is, gap years are very much need among American students. After completing 12 years of school, and the last 4 being very rigorous; students need the time to step back and see the