Time to grow up

The ubiquity of post-high school Danish gap-year participants is particularly astonishing. The Danish government has sought to limit the number of students who take a gap year in various ways, including a 2009 law that provides monetary incentives to students who choose to enter college straight from high school. These government initiatives have successfully curbed the popularity of gap-year programs, but taking time off after high school remains an accepted norm in Denmark.

This is far from the case here in America, where it is anomalous to take time off between high school and college. Princeton has taken steps to normalize the prospect of spending time outside the standard classroom in its community-service-oriented Bridge Year Program. Despite the enthusiastic acceptance of gap years by colleges across the country, American students generally remain averse to leaving the standard nursery-elementary-high-college educational progression.

I did not participate in one of Princeton’s bridge-year programs. I can nevertheless be counted among the ranks of students who have taken the opportunity to spend time abroad before engaging in the rigors of higher education.

I spent the 2009-10 academic year studying and working in and around Jerusalem. My time was split evenly between studying my Jewish heritage at a seminary in the town of Beit Shemesh, a 45-minute drive from Tel Aviv; working for the mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat; and working as a research assistant at a political think tank. I had a tremendous amount of fun, met some amazing personalities and developed lifelong friendships.

While I filled most of my time with my various Judaic classes and internships, the most important and memorable parts of my year came from time spent enjoying things less “productive.” It was in the absence of papers, tests and deadlines that I cultivated various passions that serve no “practical” purpose but make me a fuller person. Every Friday I would picnic with my closest friend (who did this gap year with me): We would pick a new wine from a different corner of the globe, a new set of cheeses, a new type of olive oil, and sit for hours discussing our week’s experiences, our goals and our realities. My appreciation for the epicurean delights was refined, my palate ever more discerning. I say this to point out that many important things in life are often masked or are kept from our attention by our obligations. In our ever-quick race to graduate, the world can pass us by. It is in this vein that I mean to contextualize the gap year.

The opportunity for a gap year comes at a very unique and fleeting moment in our lives. It comes at a juncture at which we are fairly responsible and self-reliant, and yet we have few real responsibilities (granted, I know this differs greatly among students). The process of getting into college is a recent memory, and the mystery of “will I get in” is resolved. Just having completed senior year, students contemplating a gap year tend not to have much weighing down their minds.

The gap year can serve as a period to collect one’s thoughts, assess one’s goals and find one’s hidden passions. The opportunity leaves as quickly as it comes.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must mention that the gap year is not devoid of setbacks. First and foremost, it is expensive. The price of college is extravagant, and increasing. The price of the average gap year, while cheaper than a year at Princeton, is close to the average college tuition of $27,000. It can often be very difficult to justify a non-necessary extra year of tuition. Second, the time away from writing papers, doing math equations and taking exams does cause atrophy in school-smarts. There was defiantly a readjustment period for me at the beginning of this year, when I realized that I would be more prepared for my classwork if I could transport my 12th-grade self to Princeton.

I understand that readers may be annoyed that I am pointing out a missed opportunity that can perhaps never be recovered. This is not the case; it is never too late. Yes, the unique transition period between high school and college has gone, but we are still young. Summers can be used in this fashion. Instead of jumping into some fancy internship, perhaps some time off to travel or do community service can serve as a quasi gap year. There is surely some breathing time after graduation from Princeton (fingers crossed), before graduate school or a paying job. As Miriam Geronimus noted in her column “Taking a break” last year, even taking a year off in the middle of college can be right for some students.

I am an advocate for the gap year because our need to be productive can often stifle us. The gap year sequesters time for us to explore things about ourselves that we did not notice while rushing around in high school or may not notice about ourselves while rushing around in college. Princetonians, I implore you to take time for yourselves, even at the expense of productivity.

Aaron Applbaum is a freshman from Oakland, Calif. He can be reached at applbaum@princeton.edu.