Thoughts on College/Gap Year/Etc

[lovesjoyajm]

Was just thinking about these things and I wondered how you all felt about them.

I've been thinking and wondering a lot about college costs, people's motivation for going to college, etc. Essentially what a degree is worth in the long run.

First of all, I used to always think of a "gap year" as the luxury of rich kids who could afford to traipse around Europe for a year, but honestly, I'm starting to feel like it should be a requirement - at least one year after high school of working (or traveling, I guess) before starting college.

I feel like this would weed out a lot of the people who don't really want to go to college, they just go because it's the "social norm" for a certain socioeconomic group.

Also, I think it would give people a lot of perspective and decrease the number of people who get useless majors, because even if you don't decide what you want to do during the year, you'd at least gain an understanding of the fact that you need to support yourself one day. I don't think I would've ever majored in German if I had lived in the real world before I started college.

Also, if the demand on college placements goes down, it might force colleges to reorganize their finances somewhat and bring down prices so that those who really want an education can afford it.

Thoughts? (I do have some thoughts that directly conflict with what I wrote here, this was just a quick brainstorm of thoughts.)

[IndiReloaded]

First, a gap year won't affect your ability to get into uni.

Second, the 'value' of education won't go down. If anything, in today's economic market its going up. When jobs get scarce, ppl go (back) to school.

[doppelgaenger]

I think people need to be better educated in high school in order to reduce the amount of crappy college students.

[vashti]

I think a great number of kids today would benefit by some sort of gap year. Honestly, I don't care about the travel - I would rather they spent a year working or performing community service unless it is clear by their high school academic performance that they are serious students.

I have one of each type, BTW. My son is a total academic who has been planning for college since he was in elementary school, but I don't really see my daughter being ready to go away when she graduates. (Of course, SHE thinks she is ready now.)

I understand what you mean about the devaluing of college degrees, though. Where I grew up, the perception was that a college education was pretty close to a guarantee that you would be financially successful (or at least, that was the common perception). Nowadays, tons of college educated people are working at Starbucks.

[DoesntMatter]

College is pretty cool

[Cbrider]

Along the lines of why people get degrees....I am still not convinced it is for higher living. I think a lot of people get degrees for the sense of accomplishment and that the actual application of it in the real world is backseat to the feeling of doing something for yourself.

I am on the 6, 7, 8+ year plan ATM, I was just never someone who liked school. I am academically gifted in a lot of ways, I just never wanted to apply myself in school, work was the opposite. Now I have this need to aspire to something great, its something that bothers me everyday I am not in school. I want to go and get a respectable degree for personal satisfaction.

I am leaning really hard towards Mechanical or Aerospace engineering. Its a big stride for me, as math was always my most challenging subject bar none. I know that my potential is limitless if I want it to be and I owe it to myself and my parents to do great.

[IndiReloaded]

I am leaning really hard towards Mechanical or Aerospace engineering. Its a big stride for me, as math was always my most challenging subject bar none. I know that my potential is limitless if I want it to be and I owe it to myself and my parents to do great.

Go for it! Aero is the way of things if you can. If I had to do it again, I'd do engineering, instead of pure science.

Check it out:

[url]http://www.spacex.com/[/url]

[Lipp]

I did half a gap year after graduating first because I didn't know where I wanted to go or what to do (got to apply so many months ahead of graduating), later to get in sync with the Australian semester system, and finally to await the kickstart of the brand-new course that I'm currently in.

By working, travelling and researching I found something that I wanted to pursue, and while I did change my mind half a year into uni the path proved to be perfect. Though elephant conservation experience doesn't exactly benefit me much, plenty of fun nonetheless.

So yeah, I like gap years. Just try to keep it to 1, or maybe 2, but a degree is still something that I think everyone whos career relies on it should pursue.

[lovesjoyajm]

Indi, I didn't mean that a gap year would make it harder to get into college. Simply that some people might be a) less likely to apply for college after a gap year than during their senior year of high school when it's "what you do", or b) at least more capable of deciding what or if they want to study.

Vash, I agree that the traveling would not really be the goal in my ideal world where everyone takes a year off - I only mentioned it, hesitatingly, because that's what people tend to do on "gap years" (at least Australians and Europeans, maybe not Americans as much). Of course you can learn a lot by traveling but it's still a removal from the real working world, so I think having a year of working or community service, like you said, would be (should be) a necessary eye-opener before people jump back into the "bubble" that is often university life.

So Vash, do you think that academically-oriented people (like your son) would still benefit from a year of working? Or do you think it's more important to have them keep studying while they have the motivation and perhaps fewer distractions, so that the ones inclined to study (and do "great things") don't get distracted by real life concerns?

Cbrider - your comment about why people get degrees is sort of the trip-up in my plan. I wouldn't want people to be discouraged from getting a college education by the knowledge that an "enriching" education in a less useful field might not get them any money later on. We still need academics, to pass on the combined knowledge of all the past centuries - would giving them a look at how hard life can be turn all the potential academics towards more lucrative paths? That's not good. And despite my frustration at the apparent "uselessness" of a BA in German, I think my college education was very useful and enriching in other ways (learning to write, make connections across disciplines, etc) that I might not have gotten in a more technical career-oriented field.

[vashti]

So Vash, do you think that academically-oriented people (like your son) would still benefit from a year of working? Or do you think it's more important to have them keep studying while they have the motivation and perhaps fewer distractions, so that the ones inclined to study (and do "great things") don't get distracted by real life concerns?

I guess I consider gap year the chance for kids to understand the value of education. If one already places a high value on education, then it doesn't seem necessary to take a year off to go flip burgers or pour coffee somewhere. On the other hand, I wouldn't mind seeing him work a year at something more related to what he wants to study... say a lab/pharm tech, or something like that...