Taking a 'Gap Year' Before College Is a British Tradition That's Becoming a Big Trend In The US (qz.com)

An anonymous user cites an article on Quartz: Today, many U.S. universities not only allow admitted students to take a year off before beginning their studies, but encourage it. In 2000, Harvard's admissions officers co-authored an article titled "Time Out or Burn Out for the Next Generation," in which they suggest admitted students combat the mounting pressures of secondary and post-secondary education (and modern life in general) by taking a year off. [...] The term "gap year" caught on in the US about a decade ago, when Prince William and Prince Harry took planned time off before entering university in the UK, according to Holly Bull, president of an independent agency called Interim Programs that helps US pre-college students plan their time off. Bull's father founded the agency in 1980 to promote the concept. "I've basically watched the trend grow from its inception in the U.S.," she says. "And while I wouldn't call it mainstream now, we've seen a lot of growth." This growth has led to a burgeoning "gap year" planning services industry, populated by an increasing number of consulting agencies such as Bull's. The American Gap Association (AGA), founded in 2012, oversees this industry, acting as a kind of accreditation agency. Based on the programs it reviews, the AGA estimates that between 30,000 and 40,000 students annually take a planned "gap year" in the U.S., and that the number of students doing this has grown by between 20% and 30% each year since 2006."The growing popularity of gap years speaks to a larger conversation in the US about what direction education is heading and how we help young people become thoughtful, caring citizens," Joe O'Shea, president of the AGA, says.

Comments

There's a new tradition in the USA as well

[JoeyRox]

It's called the post-graduation gap, as in having difficulty finding a job after you graduate, depending on what your area of study was.

Re:There's a new tradition in the USA as well

[Austerity Empowers]

depending on what your area of study was.

If your area of study won't get you a job, you either a) wasted money or b) don't need money that badly to begin with. You don't end up with a degree in klingon poetry by accident, decisions were made. This is something to research before plopping down a heap of bucks on college tuition or selecting a degree program.

So what you're saying is

[q4Fry]

They're complaining that going from a stressful high school schedule straight to a stressful college schedule is bad, and students should take a break for a year... but now there's this organization who wants those students to have programming (in the generic non-computer sense) in that interstitial year and accredits the programming?

Good and bad...

[gfxguy]

If you come from a wealthy family and travel the world for a year, it's probably a great way to decide what direction you want to take in life. If you come a not very wealthy family, you'll likely beach bum or play video games for a year, losing a lot of what you learned in high school, or get stuck in a rut, low-income job that is convenient to not quit (and make you less likely to actually go to college at all).

Millionaires’ children

[plague911]

It must be wonderful being the child of the obscenely wealth. I like Obama and his daughter's are very nice but the whole thing about the gap year just stinks of the privilege that most just do not have.

Re:Gap year... pfft!

[drpimp]

I took a gap year (kind of). I didn't know what I wanted to do. Worked 3 jobs that year. Decided I need to go to school and not work 3 jobs.