[Pretext: I plagarised did this for my for Thinking Skills assignment last year.. just thought of sharing it here. =) And YES, i plagiarized it mostly from the great Mr. Net. Sorry bout that, but the content is pretty much what i would have said too. AND NO, it wasn't included in my marks or what so ever, apparently we just did it for fun =.= and for our dear lecture <3]
Gap Years – Should They Be Encouraged?
What does it mean by gap year? A gap year is pretty much what the name implies – a break between periods of study. Basically, “gappers” (which is a common nickname for those who take gap years) take time off between periods of schooling to do something else for a while such as travelling, doing volunteering jobs, just to name a few. So the main question here is whether gap years should be encourage or not. Why not? As a matter of fact, taking a gap year between secondary school and college is common among Europeans and the American students, but they haven’t been popular in Asian countries, including Malaysia.
Gap year actually allows us to reflect on our chosen path, instead of hastily enrolled to a college. We have more time to think and chose what course to study. Some people would take this opportunity to do some job attachments so that they would not regret their chosen paths after entering college. However, some people also do tend to think that a gap year is a waste of time and you will be graduating and working later than your peers. In a slight sense it is true, but this is the part where the old adage “Time waits for no man” doesn’t quite apply. Life is not about earning 1 million before the age of 30 and be married with kids by 35. Everyone have their own pace of life, by taking gap years does not necessarily means they won’t be successful in life. What determines a person’s success is their passion and dedication towards what they are doing. Nowadays, even top university encourages students to take gap years before enrolling, for instance, Princeton and Harvard. By taking it, they have an extra advantage which boosts their chances of admission into their university of choice. Just like in Malaysia, if you are involved in extra curriculum activities or even National Service, (which “considered” as a gap year) you actually have a higher chance in getting scholarships, but it is also provided that you have the brains and grades of course.
Apart from that, those people who took gap years did not practically waste their time being a couch potato. They opted to learn new things, knowledge that can neither be taught nor learn in school. Besides going college after completing secondary school, (which is the so called the “right” thing to do for most parents and teenagers) there is a whole bunch of alternatives to choose. Some may picked up a new language, some may go backpacking or same may even learn the FLUTE! Mainly, most gappers will choose to do volunteering jobs. This programme varies from teaching the poor to saving endangered animals to building shelters. What they have gained from volunteering is not something that could be learnt by reading books. Some say that it was the time of their life, the experiences gained was precious and cherished. And even years after that they will reminisce the days and not regretting the decision they’ve made to take gap years.
There are plenty of organized programs that market themselves for gap years – from specific gap-year programmes such as LeapNow and Where There Be Dragons, to programmes organized by the likes of AFS, Up With People, Raleigh International, The Peace Boat, semester At Sea, and The Scholar Ship, and much much more. Prices of these programs differ; some offer financial help, some are self-funded. So, gap-year programmes should totally be encouraged especially in our country Malaysia. Being a multi racial country, gap years encourages unity of the nation by exposing people of different races to work together and forming a team. It will be the biggest learning experiences of their life. They will learn more from all the activities than those at school. It will build up their confidence, know things about the world, connected them to all sorts of people, and give them exposure to things that would NEVER get in a school environment.
Parents play an important role in raising their children; instead of pressuring them to enter college why not cut them some slacks. It’s not like by letting your children taking gap years will result in them not entering university. They should be exposing to the outside world, it will guide them to be independent in life. Some say that you must enter the workforce right after graduation, or else you will miss out on climbing career ladders and be dommed to low-level jobs for a long time, losing out on money and prosperity. Again, you don’t have to rush. There’s plenty of time for work. Employment rates change, and there are always job openings – you can even create your own job! Even fresh graduates who have never taken some time off aren’t always guaranteed a job, so there’s no real way to say whether having a gap year is necessarily a detriment to employability.
Gap years can also be a great resume booster. In the same way that they help university admissions, employers would be very impressed with people who have taken the initiative to explore various options and gain experience. Based on your varied skills and experiences, you would stand out over other competitors vying for the same job whose resumes are more conventional but less unique. I personally feel that we’re focusing too much on materialistic gains. “If you don’t get a good, high-paying job, you’re a failure” – this mindset is a corollary to “If I don’t get straight As/admission into top universities/a scholarship/a degree, I’m a failure”, and is extremely destructive. Success shouldn’t be on just how much you earn or what you own; it should be about your satisfaction with life. What makes you happy? Many people take gap years just to answer that question; it’s definitely something we should think about.
This is my personal experience in taking gap years (I’m not sure whether this can be considered as gap years or not because it’s just a short period of time, so please correct me if I’m wrong.) throughout my schooling days as student, I find it pretty boring during year end holidays. One year (which was year 2006), I decided to do something out of the box like joining the Outward Bound School. It’s basically a camp about outdoor adventures such as kayaking, hiking, rock climbing and so on. It’s all about teamwork and cooperation and because I enjoyed it very much I joined the programme again the following year but this time as a course assistant. There, I learn to be responsible in taking care of the participants. That very same year, I hiked up Malaysia’s tallest mountain with my brother, right to the summit! Perseverance was the key in succeeding and the sense of accomplishment was overwhelming. As for last year, I joined a 3 week youth exchange programme to Japan, whereby I was privileged to be exposed by different cultures. Overall, I meet great people along the journey. What I’m trying to do here is not to tell my grandmother story but to emphasize that I’ve really gained A LOT throughout the years. We only live once and life is not just about studying and getting good grades.
Thus, that is why gap years should be encouraged. : )
