Gap Year DURING High School?

Parent Cafe
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<p>Much has been written about gap year after HS and the potential benefits of taking such a year. Has anyone run across the idea of taking a year between say, the sophomore and junior years (of HS), to allow for greater maturity, focus etc…?</p>

<p>In a nutshell: older D did very well in HS and will be headed off to college this fall. Younger S is not even on the radar screen. Very nice, sociable kid. Decent attitude toward learning, makes a respectable (but not Herculean) effort, never in trouble…basically a nice kid but whose grades put him in the lowest decile.</p>

<p>I wonder if taking a year “off” ( and working or volunteering someplace) while allowing his brain to “develop” would be a viable option?</p>

<p>Thanks for reading!</p>

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<p>Sounds to me like you are just mistaking your son for a girl. ;)</p>

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<p>It doesn’t sound as if he would need a “gap year.” You say he has no problem with effort in school and doesn’t get in trouble. I doubt that the problem of his grades is going to vanish because he takes a year off. At that age, it may hinder him once he returns because so many of the subjects are very sequential, meaning that he would have forgotten important material. Also, he would be leaving all of his friends behind and would be joining a whole new class. One of the benefits to a gap year before college is that the student won’t feel as if he’s a year behind because he’ll enter college with a whole new set of students.</p>

<p>I’d say make sure he has a supportive learning environment in school, stays out of trouble, and keeps putting in effort.</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t consider it, for all the reasons corranged mentioned. And as weenie alluded to - boys and girls mature at different rates. Often, girls mature much quicker, and that is what you have as comparison in your family. You see your son as immature because you naturally compare him to your daughter. My guess is he is probably as mature as all the other boys his age. I think taking a gap year in HS would be a detriment.</p>

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<p>Not to be disrespectful toward your S or anthing, but not every student is cut out for a top college, or even any college, for that matter. Sometimes you just have to work with what God (or Allah, Budda, whatever) gives you. Encourage your S to continue to do his best, and hopefully improve, but don’t necessarily expect that he will achieve the same results as his older sister.</p>

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<p>Why not? Grade levels are arbitrary anyway. </p>

<p><a href=“http://learninfreedom.org/age_grading_bad.html[/url]”>http://learninfreedom.org/age_grading_bad.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>Just be sure to do what is educationally fitting for your child, and to talk to him about what life goals he is trying to achieve. The fun thing about parenting more than one child is discovering the differences from one child to the next.</p>

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<p>A friend of my daughters took junior year in high school off
However- his family moved- as his dad was working in Melbourne on a Fulbright Fellowship
While his brother attended school in Australia- friend took opportunity to pursue other interests, then when he returned to the states entered as a junior finished high school and then attended and graduated college.</p>

<p>But I think it makes more sense to take a year off after high school, for most kids, than to take time off in the middle.
I agree with corranged concerns with sequential courses</p>

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<p>Thanks for the responses. I should add that by no means is my S being harangued for his grades nor is he being overtly compared to his sister. Having said this, when report cards come out, the differences are striking - there’s just no way to paper over this. Indeed, it’s a pattern that’s taken form over many years - not just this past semester.</p>

<p>Irrespective of grades, we’ve provide considerable support and encouragement - by conveying thoughts such as: "sometimes, it takes boys a little longer to ‘get it’ " or, “you have many other strengths working for you etc…”; - by seeking extra help/tutoring, - by organizing a clutter free study area, - by limiting “screen time” (PSP, net, TV) </p>

<p>By no stretch of the imagination have I ever expected either of my kids to attend an Ivy or a top-ranked non-Ivy: only a fool would expect to get in with a 2.2 GPA. </p>

<p>Mr. Von S - I agree totally: not everyone is meant for a top college or even college for that matter. There are other, non-academic avenues (and indeed, these are exactly what I’m looking for!)</p>

<p>tokenadult - I enjoyed the article and will re-read it several times, I’m sure.</p>

<p>corranged - must respectfully disagree with some points. I DO believe that the problem of grades CAN (not necessarily WILL) vanish with greater maturity. I’m not a neuroscientist but if my understanding is correct, the brains of boys develop more slowly than those of girls. Boys may need another year or two just to be where girls are today.</p>

<p>If this is the case, then in a year or two, after more brain development, boys will have the organizational/study skills necessary to handle the material that girls breeze through today. I would think that more complete brain development would translate into study skills which would then translate into better grades.</p>

<p>Please let me underscore that my hope is NOT that my S will suddenly become a 4.5 student and be admitted to Harvard. Rather, it would be nice to see him experience a little more academic success than he’s so far encountered over the last ten years. If his GPA skyrocketed from a 2.2 to a 2.8, I would offer flowers and incense to the gods until the day I died.</p>

<p>Finally, I don’t think many HS courses are sequential: US History can precede or follow World History; biology can precede of follow physics etc…it’s only in math that there’s more of a sequence. For this reason, I don’t believe a year away would massively disrupt course selection.</p>

<hr>

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<p>One question I have is how a gap year during H.S. would be viewed by your school and governmental authorities. Almost half the states have raised their dropout age to 18, and would think that those places would look askance at a “gap year,” with the presumption that the kid would never return. I’m willing to bet that those same states require continuous, compulsory attendance. You may want to investigate the legal ramifications of such a decision and whether it is even possible before progressing too far.</p>

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<p>Mr. Von S - good point. This and other factors are things I have to take into consideration. </p>

<p>As an aside, I’m not thinking of this “gap year” as one in which my S would sit around and watch TV all day. It’s also not meant as some sort of “punitive” measure. Rather, I see it as a way to step away from the usual HS diet of history, English, math, science etc…and to explore other avenues where he might taste some “success”. At the same time, it would allow him time and space to mature and, if the neuroscientists are correct, allow for the connections to be made between the ears. At the end of the year, I’d expect him to finish HS with a slightly better record and maybe, just maybe, make it into to a community college somewhere. I can’t stress enough that this is NOT Ivy-driven nor is he being compared in any way to his sister.</p>

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<p>Heydad- try posting this (and poking around) in the homeschooling area of the board. I think the “gap year” terminology may be steering you in the wrong direction when you’re really looking for a non-traditional, or homeschooling solution. Many, many successful students do this and do just fine in the college process.</p>

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<p>I think you’d have to be careful about the legalities of it. A high school year abroad as an extra year might also be a possibility. You could judge at the end of it whether he could slide into senior year or would repeat it. I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad idea.</p>

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<p>There are lots of kids who take an extra year of HS, maybe that’s a good alternative for you. Working with a college counselor I see lots of cases of kids of both sexes who are advised to do a 5th year to get into a decent college. A PG year at a prep school (good but not top) to spark interest in learning (lots more interesting than the typical HS), get better grades and better college counseling. Lots of good colleges will consider these kids–not top–good.</p>

<p>There’s also a year abroad option during HS that most HSs will let you do. I spent my junior year in China and met lots of kids on programs that were not giving credit so would take 5 years to graduate.</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t push 5 year of HS onto this young man. He isn’t that motivated right now. To make him go an EXTRA year may turn him off entirely. Sounds like he is just doing enough to get by. Let him take a year off after school, then see how mature he gets and let him lead the way.</p>

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<p>Heydad, you are certainly correct that boys tend to get into the academic spirit a little later. They mature later than girls in many ways. Simply taking them away from that activity until they’re bodies/brains have matured, if that is what happens, is not going to be the greatest help, I’m guessing. Socially, girls mature faster than boys. It would be absurd to suggest giving a kid a year with limited social environment so that he will be as mature as the girls in his class. I know that this is a bit of a straw man, but in both senses I believe that performing the activity is in part what helps support the maturation process.</p>

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<p>corranged: where did “limited social environment” come from? I’ve never suggested locking him a cell with a bag of books for a year until his brain matures!</p>

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<p>Corranged, parents do it all the time, registering their boys for school a year later than they could go.</p>

<p>My son also needed extra time. If I had known more about the pg year at prep school I would have looked at those. Kid seem to love that year and it isn’t like another year at most high schools. They can pursue interests, play sports, do some travel and get great advising and attention. Most emerge with far more focus from a well chosen program. It is expensive though.</p>

<p>My son ended up at a community college for 2 years which he did not enjoy, but got on track nicely after 19.</p>

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<p>kirmum, what is a “pg” year?</p>

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<p>Post graduate. A wide range of boarding prep schools have this option for a 5th year of HS. Many go to fine tune athletic skills to be recruitable, others are there to build their academic record, mature, light their fire, get college counseling and many other things. If you can afford it, it can be a wonderful option for a late bloomer.</p>

<p>If your son is by chance an athlete, he could get a financial help at some schools if needed.</p>

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<p>You’re funny hey.
Picture two graphs. One has a nice steady incline which levels off after the first quarter of the span and then flattens out for another quarter span and then declines steadily at a flatter angle than the rise. That is your academically daughter’s likely trajectory as she hits the professional world and then has kids.</p>

<p>Now imagine another graph which has a minimal incline until the age of 17/18 when your subject gets massive doses of testosterone and his incline rises sharply and continues to rise as he hit s the prfessional world–and possibly rises for the entire span of his life, depending on his choices.</p>

<p>Bottom line: you cannot judge a boy without his testosterone. If he’s still unambitious at 21/22–then you have permission to fret.</p>