Should students take a gap year if they are interested or should they go on straight through their educational careers without a break? In the United States the latter seems to be the general consensus.  There is a general myth in the United States that taking a gap year is overall a bad idea.  In fact, there is only an estimated 2% of student gap year participation rate in the United States. The reason that this number is estimated is that there is such a small number of these students so there are no formal statistics providing such information (Fan).  People who oppose the gap year claim that students are more likely to not get a degree from an institution of higher education if they take a gap year, that taking a gap year costs too much money, and that it can hurt your chances of getting into a college or university.  People in favor of the gap year say that gap years can be completely affordable, especially with scholarships and actually help students get into colleges or universities. I believe that if a gap year is spent correctly it will not only inhibit one’s educational experience but enhance it by giving one a better chance of getting into college, giving one a more cultured view of the world, and providing a more focused drive for studies once he or she gets into a college or university.  

So what is a gap year? A gap year is not simply a year taken off from the traditionally linear path of education.  A gap year is structured and must have a purpose.  According to americangap.org it is “an experimental semester or year, typically taken between high school and college in order to deepen practical, professional, and personal awareness.” (americangap.org) Many opponents of the gap year think that a gap year is simply a break from education.  In fact, it is just a break in formal education.  The purpose of the gap year is to learn from hands on education in the form of say an internship, volunteer program, work study, or work and travel program. (pbs.org) These are the main programs and activities that would make a gap year successful.  There are two main myths that circulate around the idea of taking a gap year.  These being that gap years are just too expensive, and gap years are only for students who are not ready for college and will use it to avoid going to college in the future. (thinkingbeyondborders.org) However, these myths can easily be dismissed. 

The first obstacle that greets people when it comes to taking a gap year is the cost.  Let us get one major obstacle out of the way.  The term “gap year” has a negative conative definition of taking a year to travel overseas. This, indeed, might cost one a good bit of money. However, it is possible for gap years to cost one nothing.  Gap years do not have to be taken overseas.  They can be taken by staying at home and getting a job or an internship and getting relevant work information to what you are wanting to pursue in college.  Not only does this work experience help one get into their college or university of choice, it helps individuals earn and save up money to pay for the raising costs of college tuition in the United States. However, Gap years abroad are still not out of the picture either.  The average gap year that lasts between six and nine months is between 5000 and 7000 pounds depending on what ones does and how long they stay. (Fisk) This translates to be between roughly 6200 and 8700 United States dollars. There are also many ways to receive financial aid in paying for the gap year.  Often times, organizations that organize gap year programs will offer scholarships to make that program more accessible to anyone and everyone who wants to apply. One such organization is CIEE who gives away over $100,000 in scholarships each year. The government also gives out grants help pursue gap year aspirations. (carpediemeducation.org) Another factor that leads into cost of college is being indecisive. Being indecisive and changing college majors leads to much longer times at one’s college or university.  With the soaring cost of pursuing higher education, it is more crucial now more than ever to get a good grip of what you want to do for a living before you enroll at a college or university. The gap year is a good way of seeing if something you had in mind of doing for a career is actually the right job or even the right general field of work you should head towards. Paying for a gap year could be seen as insurance before investing wasted time in money in a changed major. The cost of a gap year should never be the reason a student does not go on one. 

Opponents of the gap year bring up the fact that six to eight years after graduating high school, higher education degree attainment is substantially lower than students who took the traditional path of education. (Niu) This fact is a very misleading figure, however.  The author of the article that claims this touches on the length of the break before enrolling in a college or university.  The author states, “Postponement can be problematic, however, if the hiatus is long, if postponement increases the likelihood of beginning college in a two-year rather than a baccalaureate-granting institution, and if time away from academic activities lowers college expectations—all circumstances that are associated with failure to receive a bachelor’s degree.” (Niu) This is not the most prevalent factor in the failure to attain a four-year degree from a college or university.  The author says socio-economic factors are, “Consistent with prior studies, we found that the negative association between delayed enrollment and educational expectations is entirely due to variation in family background and student academic achievement; once these attributes are modeled statistically, the association is rendered trivial. Furthermore, these family and student attributes, along with two-year college entry pathway, largely account for the negative association between postponement and enrollment at a baccalaureate granting institution four years after high school graduation. The relationship between the length of delay and students’ college attendance is not linear, however, which we speculate is related to unobserved at tributes that measure students’ determination to actualize their college plans.” (Niu) Because of these external factors one cannot justly make the claim that delaying enrollment into a college or university will hurt one’s educational experience and inhibit one’s ability to obtain a bachelor degree. In fact, people with higher education degrees that actually took a gap year seem to earn a bigger salary than those who had a traditional educational path. A study was done of successful graduates that delayed their enrollment in Canada and found that graduates that took some kind of gap year or delayed period earned a premium compared to their peers. (Ferrer)

Lastly, students who take periods to broaden their horizons during a gap year program ultimately are more independent, more cultured, and more focused.  The Des Moines Register reported on a testimony of a girl who went to Ecuador for her gap year to gain “life and work experience” before packing up and heading off to college.  While in Ecuador, the girl, Sydni Heron, did things such as treating machete wounds and delivering babies at a small town clinic, all while being a country which she did not speak the native language.  Sydni Heron claims this experience made her far more independent saying, “I’m better able to think for myself. didn’t even know there was another way to think and do things until I went to Ecuador.” Sydni also said she had more focused study plan when she came back from her gap year saying that she wanting to get a degree in nursing from a community college and four-year university.  This kind of increased focus is what could help the United States’ graduation rates.  Currently, only 58% of full time students receive their degree in six years. (Krogstad) 

All these reasons are why America should hop on the bandwagon of gap years.  Other countries, like Australia and most of Europe, already have a significant gap year participation rates. In fact, a study done by NatWest in 2007 showed that pre-university gap years had a participation rate of around 24% which translates into about 93,813 students taking a gap year before pursuing their higher education degrees. (gapadvice.org) This includes people that actually were admitted into colleges or universities and decided to defer enrollment until the following year.  In 2015, the Universities and Colleges Admission Services estimated this number to fall around 5.4% of applicants that applied. (gapadvice.org)

So why is there a myth in the United Sates that gap years are generally a bad idea? It is partially due to America’s extremely hard work centered culture. (Moy) It is engrained since youth that one is supposed to go to elementary school, then to middle school or junior high, then high school or senior high, then college, followed by a hardworking, long career, and finally a peaceful retirement where, maybe, you can travel around.  It is extremely nerve racking breaking social norms and going “against the grain” because what looks like taking a break to other people can appear as a weakness. These people are stuck in the mindset that education only comes in the classroom or other formal setting.  Also, people in the United Sates have much more incentive to reach the labor market sooner.  Despite many people’s objections, tax rates in the United States are substantially lower than what they are in Europe. According to Bloomberg.com, this rift in the tax rates make for a decent factor to why Americans work more than Europeans. In fact, The United States’ worker works 26.1 hours per week, while the worker from the United Kingdom works a substantially less 22 hours per week. (Steverman) This could help explain why high school administrations and parents alike are pushing future college students to enroll in a college or university as soon as possible.  

Gap years need to be thought as a more legitimate option for students after obtaining their high school degree. The key word here is ‘option’.  Understandably so, gap years are not the right course of action for every student in any situation.  However, ample evidence shows that there are many benefits to utilizing a gap year if it done correctly.  As a whole, the United States needs to get over the stigma that education doesn’t just come from classroom or traditional settings.  Education comes from every part of our lives.  Greatly put by Tom Bodett, “The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.” (Pearce) For more hands-learners this could be the experience of a lifetime. 
