Time Out!

A number of educational systems around the world (especially in the UK and Europe) call Time Out for their students.

Better known as a Gap Year this is either a mandatory or voluntary break from the path of formal education. Other terms include bridging year, year off, deferred year and transition time.

Call it what you will ~ the Gap Year (the most popular term) ~ provides breathing room for young people to mature, relax, indulge, reflect, travel or even study in a setting different from the formal classroom.

I’ve seen a couple of different models but one in particular impressed me (in a western European country where Guinness is popular). The Gap followed Year 10 ~ the time of the national school-leaving exam. Students then had the option of ending their formal education and joining the workforce or to participate in the Gap Year.

The Gap was structured on a trimester basis with a mix of options: job experience, in depth technology training, volunteer social service, "outward-bound" fresh air activities, travel or coursework at other schools.

After the Gap Year students returned to classes ready for Years 11 and 12 and a challenging pre-college curriculum.

This week Princeton University has announced that some freshmen will have the chance to go abroad for a year of social service work. This news has caught the attention of the media and so the Gap Year concept is getting quite a bit of publicity.

Princeton’s president, Shirley Tilghman said in an interview that such a program would give students a more international perspective. She also called it a year of “cleansing the palate of high school, giving them a year to regroup.”

Oh! to be 18 again.