Youth take a year out of education
by Tamsyn JN Green
A ‘gap’ does not necessarily sound like a good thing, but each year
more and more young people choose to take a break from the books between
sixth form college and university or following graduation.
The most recent statistics show that there are around 230,000 young
people taking a ‘gap year’ while just over seven percent of students
choose to defer their place at university by a year in order to indulge
in some time out from formal education.
Some young people avoid the void for fear that they will be
travel-bug bitten and never return to education, while recent research
shows that others are unable to spend earnings on travel, opting instead
to save towards their degree course, alleviate the inevitable student
debt or even start the increasingly tough climb up the property ladder.
For those that do take a gap year, the options are endless. From surf
camps in Australia, to marine conservation in Borneo and building
schools in rural Peru, the choice has never been so hard.
Gap year organisations cater to every interest, time scale and most
budgets - the average UK gap year student will spend between $5,000 and
$6,000 on volunteering or travel abroad.
With an increasing global market for gap year organisations,
competition is driving prices down and the choice is no longer limited
to the affluent middle classes and privately educated.
Most students spend the first half of their year working to earn
money. Jobs vary from catering and hospitality to administrative and
factory work.
Spending six months in a monotonous job which is only a means to an
end - the end being enough to fund the beginning of travels - certainly
increases the enjoyment of such freedom for the more exciting second
half!
Once the student has sufficient funds, the spending is usually not so
difficult - most choose to organise their trip through tour groups and
projects, while others will set off with only a budget as their guide.
A significant proportion of travellers get involved in voluntary
projects that give something back to the local community of their chosen
destination. Many people feel that this enables them to engage with a
new culture, rather than merely spectating or passing through a country.
It is true that one doesn’t need to travel the globe to find causes
in need of voluntary labour, but it seems that experiences in unfamiliar
parts of the world can be all the more eye-opening for the young,
inquisitive mind.
There is no doubt that the increasing affordability of travel,
particularly flying, has popularised the gap year, and advances in
communication mean that family and friends no longer feel so far away.
There is also reason to suggest that students think a year for
character building and personal development will give university
applications and CVs the cutting edge.
Others veer away from the pressures of academia, never to return to a
conventional career and lifestyle, and instead find fulfilment in
vocational work overseas demanding more people, skills and less
bureaucracy.
It is not just young people that are saving pennies to see the world.
The 200,000 retired people travelling from the UK rivals the number of
young people opting for a ‘year out’, while the middle-aged ‘career
breakers’ contribute another 90,000 to the records.
The British are renowned explorers so perhaps the growing trend
should come as no surprise, or perhaps there is an intensifying desire
to break from the norm.
People are afraid of being another product of the institutional
conveyor belt.
Breaking personal boundaries allows one to refresh one’s perspective
of what is important and shape the bridge into the next phase of life. |