Why fear gap years?

As the COVID-19 outbreak has caused the shutdown of high schools and universities around the world, a phenomenon unknown to mankind has emerged from the shadows, a product of true desperation: Asian families are genuinely considering and preferring gap years for their children. If you don’t know what a gap year is, it’s typically a year-long break before or after college or university when students can engage in various educational and developmental activities, such as travel or some type or regular work (vague, I know). However, it’s self-planned, which means that students can just float around the space-time continuum on their parents’ money without any real goals or responsibilities. When you really think about it though, taking a gap year might just be the most logical response as opposed to paying full tuition for a subpar online education on Zoom nowadays. And I dare say, maybe taking a gap year is the most logical response under normal circumstances as well.

There’s social stigma built around gap years largely because of the common assumption that taking one indicates laziness and a lack of direction. To be fair, if a gap year isn’t well-planned, this can most certainly be the case. We all know the I-backpacked-in-Thailand-and-now-I-think-I’m-better-than-everyone type gap year. What isn’t acknowledged enough, though, is the multitude of ways a gap year can be productive, enlightening, and can actually better prepare young people for life in college and beyond.

Angela Dai (ET12C) expressed, “I feel like a gap year would be really beneficial… it’s a good opportunity for self-reflection and discovery because it’s likely the first time in your life that you don’t have to go to school. It’s very likely that everything you remember is school. A gap year would be a nice opportunity to figure out who you are outside of that, and to get some work experience.” Cynthia Cheung (ET12A) agreed, “It’s a good time to explore yourself more and to develop your interests. I feel like if you go out to work or anything you can get life advice from older people.” Ms. Kristen Howell added, “…you don’t need your parents to pay for your travel. There are plenty of ways to travel for cheap. For example, I milked goats and lived with a blind goat farmer in Ireland. Otherwise, I taught ESL, or worked in restaurants. You don’t need to be rich to have a gap year. In fact, it’s probably more fun if you’re not.” Aside from traveling, many can use their gap years to work internships and part-time jobs while earning online credits, or to volunteer for charities, grow their own business, or to work to help their families pay for college in the future and avoid student debt. There are a multitude of creative ways to take advantage of a gap year.

The stigma against gap years is based on more than the “but that’s unproductive” mindset though; a deeper reason may be the over idealization of the traditional college experience. I’m sure we’ve all heard from our parents and teachers that college is a magical place where you’ll meet the love of your life, have wild parties, make life-long friends, and find your passion in life. It’s this second home, a sanctuary where you’re among people who are like you, and it’s in a window of time where you get to achieve your goals and create this amazing future for yourself as long as you work hard. It’s an experience students work practically their entire little lives for. It’s glamorized in TV-shows and movies that target adolescents, like High School Musical (I remember I cried when the main characters got into their dream schools). Ivy Leagues boost your social currency, and are the greatest indications of intellect. College sells like the American Dream, and FOMO takes care of the rest. Taking a gap year is like agreeing to miss out on all that, and falling behind all your peers.

Now, this isn’t to spit in the face of the college education. It’s just to say that college is, objectively, overrated. That being said, of course I want to go to college come the fall— but taking a gap year should be taken into consideration, especially now. It’s just trickier because no one knows whether or not the coming semester will be held online. Instead of waiting around to see whether or not universities will reopen and actually be worth your tuition, though, I suggest you start making a Plan B. Now more than ever, we need to be flexible and consider all of our options before committing to one. So hey, why not plan out a gap year?

Featured image—I backpacked in Thailand and now I think I’m better than everyone Courtesy of Harvard Graduate School

by Jessie Wu