Gap years

I took a lot of gap years, like 15 of them, LOL! Seriously though, I think I can understand taking a year off or so. School is tough, and when it seems like never-ending, it gets real daunting. People spend like their first 18 years in school and then have to look forward to at least another 4 in college. I can understand wanting to take some time off just to not have to do any schooling. I'm going for my associate's degree now, and it is tough. I am so looking forward to school being over with, and I keep telling my husband not to let me sign up to get my bachelor's because I don't think I could handle it!

If I somehow got universal power placed in my hands, I would prohibit all but the genuine prodigies from attending tertiary institutes until they were at least 21, possibly 25. I have dealt with too many totally inexperienced but academically qualified social workers, just to name one profession, who shouldn't have been allowed within a thousand miles of a counselling session or major life-changing decision-making for other people. In fact in professions like that, I might even go so far as 30. Lash

My whole life is the gap years. My mom stopped me from taking my life right after highschool. she told me I didn't Have to go to college after I said I would pick a school with a high tower so I could jump off. Have I done something worth while? No. Like my life as seem by others , it was a waste. I saw movies and slept Then I got the job I have now. But then again I Never had a purpose.

i am blessed to have no gap years during my school years. i was able to secure a scholarship that paid for my studies. if i had a gap year, i would have spent it in worthwhile activities such as volunteering or internships or part-time jobs. i would have spent it in a productive way. some employers look at the gap years, and what people do in those years.

When I was 18 I took a gap year - but it became more than a year as I then didn't start my degree for about 15 years! For me personally I felt that I had spent a very long time in education and I wanted to experience something else before I embarked on further study. I was planning on travelling for part of the year but various plans fell through, so I worked instead. I think it's a fantastic idea so long as it it used productively, as you said (for surely a gap year spent slobbing in front of the TV is actually just unemployment!)My own daughter will be starting university later this year and I did try and encourage her to take a gap year and maybe do some voluntary work abroad but she was concerned that once out of the education system she would find it difficult to return. I would actually like to take another gap year myself - perhaps one day, when I am no longer so responsible for my family, I may take a year out to travel.

I ought to make a completely new appraisal of your farm.You are engaged in sustainable living ,that is to say environmental-friendly agriculture, and that many volunteers are university students who take gap years. It is great they go there and experience sustainable living.It is the best way for them to apply theory to reality.I am not sure if the gap years is sabbatical or summer vacation,winter vacation.

I took two years off between high school and college. I did a lot of wandering around in the woods, between odd jobs. If I had gone to college earlier, I wouldn't have met the boy I married, so it was either a good or a bad thing -- jury's still out on that one.

Two of my kids did not take a gap year and one did and to this day she is having problems finishing up her college....the gap year was to make money for the rest of her education....but she fell in love and married during that time and didn't return to college until 12 years later.

I have completed one year of college and I guess right now I'm on my "gap years". But it's not doing anything fun like interning at a farm (or volunteering, whatever you will call it), but just working a full-time job. I hope to get back in school and maybe study abroad or do an internship, though. I think that's a really good experience to have under your belt!

For my family, and upbringing, a gap year was out of the question. It was imperative that I finished school right away (even though I took longer than I should), and get to work so I could support myself. That was a way to help my parents not to spend for me anymore. Anyway, I think I've softened up my stance on gap years. I think I would like my kids to experience a gap, and just do something with their life. Although I learned a lot when I was in university, including non-classroom lessons, I think my kids would benefit more if they did a gap year. Just to travel, or do some volunteer work, or just experience life (even have a job)!