Talk:Gap year/Archives/2012

Notes

the following moved from Wikipedia:Reference desk but not yet integrated into the article

Possible link?

www.gapadvice.org has a huge amount of information on gap years and seems to be independent and not too commercial - can someone double check this?Chrismint (talk) 12:30, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Large US Section?

It seems odd to me that the US section is so large. Gap years are not very popular here in the US and I didn't even know the phrase until recently. 24.193.126.175 (talk) 06:44, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

It's not that the US section is too large, it's that the other countries' sections need expansion. This is, unfortunately, a common problem (see Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias). — Satori Son 17:59, 23 March 2011 (UTC)

confused by terms

There appears to be some confusion here over the names of institutions. The article states that gap years are taken "between a student's completion of secondary school and matriculation in college or university...". 'Secondary school' is a primarily English term I think but 'college' in this context refers to university does it not? An Americanism. As far as I'm aware, in Britain colleges are generally stand-alone sixth form colleges attended for two years after secondary school and before university. It is in between college and university that gap years are usually taken. In addition to this, many schools have an integrated sixth form, and in regard to these institutions, the article is justified (except for the use of the term 'college'). Just thought I'd say that. Please correct me if I'm wrong though. I wouldn't want to edit the article unless I was sure.

In England and Britain i believe a gap year can be taken between leaving school for college or sixth form and also from college/ sixth form to university. --JMcD 00:54, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

High school is commonly used in British English to mean Secondary school, and "College" rather than being an Americanism, has long been used in the UK as generic shorthand for tertiary education although it hasn't survived as much as in North America since so many UK colleges rebranded themselves as universities.Zagubov (talk) 15:07, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Structuring

I feel it is very obvios that this artical needs structure. A few ideas for headings.

• Headings for 'gap year's' according to countries
• Heading for 'afflunce of Gap Years' (by this i mean how they have developed or come about)
• Gap Year Beheaver (e.g. travelling, working)

what are other editors opinions? --JMcD 00:51, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

I have gone and structured it anyway, i hope this gives people something to build upon, feel free to change headings of coures. --JMcD 23:59, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm in the process of making the article more "formal", so to speak. Right now it sounds too conversational, which is not what an encyclopedia should be. SujinYH 17:57, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

OK, is there any sections or research i could possibly help with so are editing dosen't clash? --JMcD 23:39, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

I see just a gap year in the US and the history of the gap year in the UK. Making the gap year more international in scope would be good. SujinYH 00:18, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

The section "2000-present: online developments, global growth, natural aging" sounds quite like marketing information from the cited website ("The opportunities are staggering!") Could we clean this up a little? --65.33.176.241 (talk) 08:07, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Made a few changes to grammar and structure, 18/11/2010 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.219.116.67 (talk) 14:09, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

Headline text

= the article sucks

Braying middle-class 'travellers' (tourists btw) have got a lot to answer for. --Simply swurls (talk) 10:33, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

when is a gap year

I removed from the header a huge list of times when you might take a gap year. This is largely because a) none of these were referenced; b) the header is supposed to summarize the rest of the article, and the rest of the article only talks about pre-univ gap years c) some of them clearly didn't make sense (like taking a 'gap year' between work and retirement). DJ Clayworth (talk) 21:22, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

country section

The old structure of the customs in various countries was better. Why was it destroyed? OscarPetterson (talk) 07:27, 19 November 2010 (UTC)

Danish reference error

The article states that "Denmark has sought to limit the number of students who take a gap year, penalizing students who delay their education to travel abroad or work full time.[1]". The cited article (in Danish, but very clear through Google translate, link here ) is not about action taken by the Danish government. It is an interview with six students about their opinions on gap years, and also mentions research that gap years can be beneficial. Should I remove the reference, or at least the citation?

87.192.246.247 (talk) 11:54, 22 November 2010 (UTC)

It is not the best article to use for a source. What some random students without life experience may have of opinion can not tell how the visionare politicians created a master plan to preserve the superior civilization in Denmark from cultural polluting? The article below tells how the politicians are about to alter the student grant system to the students can get their degree without breaks
Changes in works for student grant, The Copenhagen Post, July 8, 2010
However, the article has been totally rewritten since the original part about Denmark was added. Maybe the reference is taken out of context?
OscarPetterson (talk) 22:38, 22 November 2010 (UTC)

They are even suggesting fines if people start to leave Denmark after they have completed their education here. DF: Det skal koste at forlade landet (by Chris Kjær Jessen and Morten Henriksen, Berlingske Tidende, November 23, 2010). I have heard that some choose to take that gab year after they have completed their education, so they don't lose cuts in their student grant and by traveling abroad there is a risk that they start to work abroad with an education paid by the Danish citizens. Nice to see that they will stop this loop hole JohanGraham (talk) 07:56, 23 November 2010 (UTC)

Proposed changes to US section

I have two suggestions for the US section:

1) A gap year is not known as a "Sabbatical year" in the US; this statement in the article is incorrect. To Americans, a sabbatical is a leave granted specifically to a professional for the purpose of dedicating time to tasks such as preforming research or writing a book. It nearly always refers to such leave granted to university staff. A student or recent graduate would not apply the phrase to themselves save perhaps humorously. Most Americans would likely just say "taking a year off."

2) Many colleges/universities have programs wherein incoming students may apply to voluntarily defer their admission for the purpose of a gap year. The sentence listing some examples in particular gives the impression that this number is quite small. Dan (talk) 16:27, 5 October 2011 (UTC)

International equivalents of a gap year

What are the national equivalents of a Gap Year (I'm thinking both the term used and the actual practice thereof) ? I'm sure -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:17, 27 Apr 2004 (UTC)

The Australian and New Zealander equivalent is called the working holiday.

Australians definitely have a culture of travel. I didn't realise how much until I migrated to North America. 5% of Australian citizens live outside the country at any given time but most return to Australia after a few years. Robertbrockway 22:27, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

In Canada, or at least in Ontario, we don't have a name for it, we just call it "taking a year off." Adam Bishop 00:30, 27 Apr 2004 (UTC)

At least in Ontario and Alberta Canada (Where I have lived) "taking a year off" isn't encouraged like it is in Australia and there is definitely no cultural tradition of taking a year off. In fact at the best of circumstances it is a neutral pursuit and it is usually discouraged. There is a definite tradition/expectation of working during the holidays and breaks though. In Canada it is actually a negative to future employers if you haven't worked while in school. In North America "gaps in your CV" are also a negative and some may consider a gap year just that. rasblue 04:41, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

In Australia it's invariably called "deferring". The student receives an offer from a university immediately after leaving high school, and defers commencement until a later date. [1] -- Tim Starling 00:37, Apr 27, 2004 (UTC)

I don't think that that's really the right term; we (in the UK) have deferred entry, yes, but that's to do with there being a year betwixt the end of attending one institution and enrolment at the next; the Gap Year is a specific activity that is often (but not always) carried out in this 'spare' year -- you could just spend the time lazing about instead, or doing some work. Gap Years are semi-structured, or at least focussed around an activity (like teaching English as a foreign language to school children in Chile, comme Prime William) and also generally include some level of travel abroad.

I suppose that it might be one of the not-so-few perculiarly British things... ;-)

James F. (talk) 02:18, 27 Apr 2004 (UTC)

In Australia deferring is definitely the correct word. A significant percentage of people defer going to University after high school for a year in Australia. So many that in Queensland at least deferring is as easy as ticking a box on the enrollment form. If you do this the university automatically holds your place for one year. Australians never call it a Gap Year. Robertbrockway 22:17, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

Brits don't have high schools, someone should rewrite th'article.

I've removed the reference to "British English" and included more of the international references. (Probably not all of them, though; I'm a bit tired at the moment.) I've also removed this bit at the end for now:

In New Zealand it is known as OE or The Big OE meaning Overseas Experience but is more commonly undertaken after graduating from university with two years relevant work experience. It just doesn't feel right at the end. I have included the OE in the also-known-as part of gap year. SujinYH 04:44, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Yes we do have high schools, just it doesn't have the same meaning as in the USA like "Sweet Valley High" and the like. Girls' grammar schools are called high schools in most places, e.g. Dr Challoner's High School. In Scotland and some places in England and Wales, comprehensive schools are called "high schools" and in areas with a three-tier education system, "high schools" are one of the three schools. 109.176.225.252 (talk) 19:29, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

this article is full of sweeping, unsupported statements

There are a number of statements in this article that should be removed if they can't be referenced; they're just the sort of vague, sweeping statements that shouldn't be in an article - such as:

• The practice of taking time out developed in the United Kingdom in the 1960s.
• Usually, around 2% of Australians take a year off prior to attending tertiary education and choose to travel abroad (usually South East Asia or Europe) or within Australia backpacking.
• In India, the practice of taking time out to travel after high school education, popularly called a drop year has been on a steep rise in recent years, primarily students deciding to enroll in coaching institutions to prepare themselves for rigorous college entrance examinations, including the IIT-JEE, the entrance test for the Indian Institute of Technology as well as in medical stream.

- DavidWBrooks (talk) 17:47, 18 October 2012 (UTC)