Full Circle Digital Magazine September 2013 | Page 60

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C I R C L E

T R A V E L

“A structured period of time when students take a break from formal education to increase self-awareness, learn from different cultures, and experiment with possible careers.” - American Gap Association.
As interest in this phenomenon grows, many parents look on the ‘Gap Year’ idea as their child’s way of taking a year’s holiday, at their expense! In many cases, the child feels this negative imput and with the lack of support and guidance from the parents, spends an unplanned, unproductive and frustrating year about the house, fulfilling their parent’s prophecy. The success of taking a Gap Year is achieved by a combination of traveling, volunteering, interning, or working. Research has shown that taking a Gap Year serves to develop some of the valuable skills needed for success. These include Motivation, Optimism, Determination, and Conscientiousness, to name but a few.

Academic Benefits
•  Relieves the academic burnout that often comes with completing Matric exams. •  Helps to clarify interests, which will lead to a study choice more likely to produce a successful outcome. •  Ignites a renewed sense of curiosity for learning. •  Studies with a purpose, and is not merely ‘going through the motions’. •  Learns to work with others, developing Emotional Intelligence (EI rather than IQ). • Learns a new language. •  Gains practical experience in the field of study choice. •  More likely to be awarded scholarships for national and international studies. •  Are more invested, better community members, and have better employability.
A well-structured Gap Year can be part of the lifelong education process and can induce a profound contribution to personal development, and an increased ownership for life-direction. It also brings an understanding of what it means to be a global citizen and own the responsibility of that in an increasingly multicultural landscape.

Personal Benefits
•  Develops cross-cultural understanding and competence. •  Learns to communicate when there are different basic vocabularies. •  Learns creative problem solving by taking a challenging situation and turning it into an opportunity. •  Learns how different environments shape different cultures. • Gains a global perspective on ‘living’. •  Evaluates personal values and identifies a personal idea of success. •  Explores comfort zones to better understand the self and truly know capabilities. •  Learns to laugh at mistakes, instead of being embarrassed.

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FULL CIRCLE DIGITAL MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2013

image credit] blog.teenlife.com

Taking a gap year?