Copy Of Gap Year Essay Edited
Hannah Brock
A Year to Find Yourself
A gap year is a structured period taken after the completion of high school, before pursuing a higher education. The gap year can be used for travel, studying abroad, and experimentation with possible career choices. Students may do any activity that facilitates selfdiscovery of one’s talents, passions, and possible career options. Gap years are encouraged and widely practiced in Europe and Australia to steer students in the direction of their true passions, while the consumerbased society of the United States drives teens to proceed through college merely in pursuit of a high income. Many students also struggle to decide on a career path, and spend a large portion of their college years undecided, giving them the disadvantage of wasted time and money. Gap years are for the openminded intellectuals who seek a new experience that can challenge their point of view in many aspects. Now that this movement is beginning to take hold in the United States, more adolescents will benefit from all that a gap year has to offer.
A lot can happen during a gap year; whether it may be interning at a research facility, volunteering at an orphanage in Honduras, studying abroad in Germany, or having a job to support oneself through the coming years. Along with academic experience, gappers gain social experiences as well as life experiences that cannot be given in a classroom or textbook; but by stepping out of the pattern of everyday life to pursue a year that can improve quality of life and help bring a sense of purpose and determination. According to a survey of 280 people (by Karl
Haigler and Rae Nelson of Advance, N.C., coauthors of a forthcoming guidebook on the topic.
[ http://online.wsj.com ])
, students usually take gap years either because they feel burned out from the competitive pressure of high school, or because they wish to “find themselves”.
Students that decide to take time off before
A Year to Find Yourself
A gap year is a structured period taken after the completion of high school, before pursuing a higher education. The gap year can be used for travel, studying abroad, and experimentation with possible career choices. Students may do any activity that facilitates selfdiscovery of one’s talents, passions, and possible career options. Gap years are encouraged and widely practiced in Europe and Australia to steer students in the direction of their true passions, while the consumerbased society of the United States drives teens to proceed through college merely in pursuit of a high income. Many students also struggle to decide on a career path, and spend a large portion of their college years undecided, giving them the disadvantage of wasted time and money. Gap years are for the openminded intellectuals who seek a new experience that can challenge their point of view in many aspects. Now that this movement is beginning to take hold in the United States, more adolescents will benefit from all that a gap year has to offer.
A lot can happen during a gap year; whether it may be interning at a research facility, volunteering at an orphanage in Honduras, studying abroad in Germany, or having a job to support oneself through the coming years. Along with academic experience, gappers gain social experiences as well as life experiences that cannot be given in a classroom or textbook; but by stepping out of the pattern of everyday life to pursue a year that can improve quality of life and help bring a sense of purpose and determination. According to a survey of 280 people (by Karl
Haigler and Rae Nelson of Advance, N.C., coauthors of a forthcoming guidebook on the topic.
[ http://online.wsj.com ])
, students usually take gap years either because they feel burned out from the competitive pressure of high school, or because they wish to “find themselves”.
Students that decide to take time off before