Taking a Gap Year – Is it Worthwhile?
Menanteau Serfontein – 11 March 2022
Introduction
Many young high school graduates are not “ready for life” – they are not mature enough to go straight into the world of work, or to further their studies at university or another tertiary institution.
A large percentage of students entering university or other institutions of higher learning fail and drop out before completing their degrees/diplomas. There is growing evidence that many school leavers don’t have the necessary “life skills” to be able to choose an appropriate course of study and to become successful students.
In order to succeed academically as well as in your career, you should ideally have sufficient clarity about “who you are” (your identity) and be confident that you have the necessary life skills to be effective and successful. However, for many, the “why” questions of life are still vague and unanswered at that stage. A significant number are bewildered, scared, lack confidence, feel unworthy (not good enough) and are uncertain about themselves, about life and about their faith.
In such cases, the possibility of taking a gap year after leaving high school should be seriously considered.
Gap years are not for everyone and many aspiring students would not need to take a gap year before they start their chosen course of study, or enter the world of work straight away. However, judging by the failure rate, coupled with the large number of students who “lose their way” after leaving school, I believe that there is a strong case to be made for certain school leavers to “invest” in a gap year in order to gain knowledge and skills that will equip them for “adult life”.
What is a Gap Year?
A gap year is a semester or full year of experiential learning, typically taken between high school graduation and college/university/apprenticeship/traineeship enrolment or entering the world of work.
Purpose of a Gap Year
There are various reasons why people opt to embark on a gap year – such as discovering themselves, finding purpose, discovering what they want to do with their lives, what sort of work they would like to do and the career path that they wish to pursue.
Taking a gap year after high school is becoming an increasingly popular decision among high school leavers, and an increasing number of universities are supporting students who choose to do so. Some proponents have even argued that gap years, or a year of national service, should be mandatory.
Gap years haven’t only grown in popularity with students and parents. Some universities encourage students to take gap years and allow accepted applicants to defer their admission for a year to do so. In fact, some universities even offer university-sponsored gap-year programmes. The institutional support of gap years is due in part to the growing evidence that gap years can be extremely beneficial to students.
Before opting for a gap year, you should clarify what it is that you want to explore and learn and what kind of personal growth you wish to pursue. An unfocused and aimless gap year which entails too much sitting around being idle, is unlikely to provide any positive takeaways.
There could be some benefit in travelling overseas for 6 to 12 months to develop greater independence – and benefit from the enriching experience of seeing and experiencing foreign places, cultures and different ways of life.
Another option could be to combine working part-time to earn some money with periodic travelling.
I am aware of several students who successfully completed their high school studies and then remained at the same school for a further year to participate in a structured “post-matric” programme.
Personal Experience
When I finished high school, I was one of the boys during that time who was conscripted to do compulsory military training for 12 months.
Some of the conscripted boys thought that their 12-month stint was a waste of time, but many others benefitted significantly.
In my case, my military training was a substantial personal growth experience. Without realising it at the time, it was in fact a “gap year” of sorts. I was on an Officers’ course where we learnt leadership skills, self-discipline, group-discipline, goal setting and goal achievement, perseverance, resilience, group dynamics, inter-personal skills, sharing with others, sacrificing for one another, teamwork, courage and going the extra mile.
It was common knowledge that the general trend was that those who completed their military training first before going to university, had a much better probability of passing their university degree within the normal time period, than those who went to university first and did their military training thereafter.
Although there were many exceptions, the ones who did military training first, were generally more mature, had greater clarity and direction about what they wanted to do with their lives and which course of study to register for.
In a previous essay on the website entitled “Should Educational Institutions Also Teach About ‘What Makes Life Worth Living’?” , I wrote about the fact that education today focuses almost exclusively on specialised bodies of knowledge (and skills), which is essential in order to equip students to eventually hold their own in the work situation. However, young people often don’t learn about the meaning of life, purpose, character and time-tested biblical values and principles at school and in many cases not even at home, resulting in a huge vacuum when it comes to life skills.
This neglect is one of the reasons why I favour appropriate structured gap years. Theodore Roosevelt said: “To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
Example of an Excellent Structured Gap Year Programme
There are many options available that would suit the specific unique needs of different people, however I tend to favour a “structured” gap year which is geared specifically to equip young people who graduate from high school – “for life”.
A great example of a well-established and highly successful “structured” gap year programme that I have become aware of recently is “Victory Gap Year” which is offered by Victory Church in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa.
The “Victory Gap Year” programme offers various elective streams to attendees to choose from. An overview of some of the structured exposure that attendees receive through a combination of theoretical input and practical experience include:
- Leadership Theory and Practice
- Leadership Principles and Styles
- Identity
- Character
- Developing a “Why”
- Followership
- Teamwork
- Basic Sociology
- Team Dynamics and Trust
- Conflict and Confrontation
- Planning, Organising and Hosting events
- Marketing
- Public Speaking
- Outreach
- Participatation in a Global Leadership Summit
- Personality Profiling
- Key principles for successful everyday living
The core curriculum of the programme is underpinned by learning Biblical foundations and principles with ample opportunities being offered to obtain practical experience.
One of the elective streams is “Media”, which covers the terminology, principles and practical application of the various forms of modern media and how to make optimal use of it. This is done through practical usage of the respective media. This stream also covers graphic design, video, photo editing and live media productions. In addition, the media stream includes visits to an Impact Photography and Design Studio.
It goes without saying that a tremendous amount of informal learning takes place during the programme and practical experience is gained throughout the year.
The web address is: victorygapyear.co.za
Note: Some of the content of this essay has been obtained from “Should You Take a Gap Year? by Mikael Mulugeta, June 4, 2020 https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/what-is-a-gap-year/#:~:text=A%20gap%20year%20can%20be,through%20an%20internship%20or%20job.
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