National Gap Year of Getting Out
If you love them, set them free for a year ...
A Gap Year.
Sounds vaguely European, or something rich kids do in and around Europe after they’ve secured their coveted spot at Harvard next year. They frolic, and along the way, in theory, find themselves, love, pot, and adventure, somehow better preparing themselves for life ahead.
Sounds like fun, but clearly out of reach economically for the majority of college-bound high school graduates, and likely of little interest to much of the rest, who just want to get the hell out of school and into the ‘real world.’
This lack of means or interest should not dim our view of the value of this gap year, for the very act of getting away for a year has great intrinsic value. It builds maturity, independence, a bit of worldliness, and perhaps most importantly, a real opportunity to work and live with a diverse set of people.
And the further down the economic and social class chain, the more important all this is, especially the diversity & cultural elements. Especially for those not college-bound, who are often less aware of the world and likely to stay quite local for much of the rest of their lives.
For Everyone
Everyone should go on a Gap Year. In fact, we should make it mandatory. That’s four million kids per year, who complete high school and would do a year before going on to the next thing in their lives, such as college, work, trade schools, etc.
Imagine what four million 18-year-olds can do for the USA, our neighbors, and the world! It’ll be controversial, and perhaps expensive, but the value will dwarf any problems and the impacts felt for decades into the future.
Maturity
Getting out, living on their own, and being around lots of other people doing new and often unfamiliar things builds maturity. It lets kids get away from their families, peers, and get more of a sense of the real world, especially beyond their hometowns.
Independence
Getting away from their parents and friends is scary and it seems today’s youths, especially the papered middle-class, often fail at this when they arrive at college. So push them out for a year, let them make decisions, make mistakes, and get a taste of being on their own.
Some rich kids get a bit of this at month-long summer camps, and poor kids sadly get it in broken homes, but everyone (especially middle-class kids) benefit from just getting away and not being helicoptered by mom and dad.
Worldliness & Culture
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain
Mr. Twain is so right and especially for lower-class kids with limited travel experience, getting away and into new places, new cultures, and with new people is critical to them becoming good and responsible citizens.
Plus it can easily ignite life-long passions for travel, other places, and who knows, perhaps French wine (or girls), Mexican culture, or serving the South Pacific. It doesn’t matter, as long as it’s something new, different, and diverse.
Comfort with Diversity
Probably the most valuable outcome of spending a year in service is to really be exposed to different kinds of folks, across regions, races, religions, classes, and more. The military does a good job of this, in a way few other institutions can or do.
A central challenge these days with rural while folk worrying about gays, Latinos, Blacks, the rich, and immigrants. But it’s hard to denigrate others if you know them, and thus we should ensure they meet and hang out with all of those during their year, for they will come back with a very different view (or so we can hope).
Military Model
This time away and mixing in diversity happens every day in the military, where very different folks are put together with others usually unlike them, building bonds that last a lifetime. The goal here is to replicate much of what the military archives, but in a civilian setting, and with a much broader demographic, i.e. everyone.
Make it Mandatory
Many countries have mandatory military service, and this should be the same - kids should be required to spend a year in a modest list of approved services or clearing organizations, such as:
Military - Keep doing what they’re doing, but they only take about 150,000 new recruits per year, or 4% of folks completing highschool.
Religious - Ideally formal programs like what the Mormons do.
Peace Corps - Only 7-10,000 people per year. Imagine the global impact and footprint if that was 10X.
Americorps - Taking about 270,000 kids per year. Let’s do 5X.
Others - Even with all the above, this still leaves about 3 million 18-year-olds to absorb, and there are many, many existing programs of varying quality that need to be evaluated, expanded, and driven to our national, and international needs.
Paying For It
Gap years aren’t cheap, though there are many existing scholarships and other programs that help pay for it. But we’ll also need serious funding sources via government and other organizations, ideally including big business, that can provide opportunities for everyone.
About four million Americans complete high school each year, so that’s a lot of programs and placement, and not an insignificant amount of disruption, but it’s worth it. Still, at say $10,000 per student, that’s $40 billion we need to find, so we better start looking now.
Start by massively expanding existing programs, with an eye to mandatory participation by 2030, so we have time to expand options, find out what works, and work out the kinks along the way.
And just the discussion, priority, and program expansion will change the conversation and norms, in itself really changing what’s expected of modern kids in a modern, diverse, and ever-changing world.
Get Out and Gap!
Gap Year Association - Lots of resources on programs, how-to, funding, etc.