The details of the daughters’ activities are a secret, so The White House was not forthcoming with more comments on either her choice of college or her “gap year”.
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The basic argument behind the 140-character posts was this: Harvard, a middling liberal indoctrination facility, only chose Malia because her father, who has never accomplished anything and is trying to destroy America, went there.
Both Malia and her 14-year-old sister, Sasha, 14, are students at Washington D.C.’s esteemed Sidwell Friends School, and have been since moving to the nation’s capitol from Chicago in 2008.
Counselors at Jacksonville University said a gap year is not for everyone, but if it’s done right, it won’t hurt but only help a student’s college experience.
Anecdotally, “students come away much more mature and take their studies more seriously, and they are more assured of what they want to do major wise”, said Jeffrey Selingo, author of the book, “There Is Life After College”.
It’s touted as a time to recharge after the stresses of high school, a time to give back to others, a time to travel to faraway places one would never have the chance to see, and a time to grow up – or a combination of all of these. “It can be structured or unstructured, and directed towards career, academic or purely personal pursuits”.
TIME is really leading the pack here, pooling together the data about the growing trend of gap years and mentioning the oft-repeated fact today that Harvard actively encourages its students to take one.
Harvard accepted just 5.2 percent of applicants this year, making it the second-most selective college in the country after Stanford.
It’s an idea that’s taking hold among more students, often at elite schools, but not only those. I wanted to go to college, but I knew it wasn’t the best next step for me.
Not all universities allow it, and policies and programs vary. “It’s gonna be hard for me not to have her around all the time”.
Now, we all just need to wait to find out what she’s going to do with that gap year. Gap years, as Daily Intel noted this morning, are not so common for American students as compared to their peers in, say, Europe, but they’re not nonexistent. It said in 2015, participation increased about 22 per cent from the previous year.
That was apparently the plan for Malia Obama.
“Regardless of why they took the year off or what they did, students are effusive in their praise”, Harvard says on its admissions site.
If you take a gap year, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved in a special project, volunteer or work. And we want to spearhead this and help signal to students and their families and other stakeholders in the education system that gap years are an important part of the educational ecosystem.
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Here are four reasons you should think about taking a gap year like Malia Obama. Some schools however-like Florida State and the University of North Carolina-are offering financial aid to lower-income students to have the same kinds of cultural experiences before attending college. Deferrals for two-year obligatory military service are also granted. We must teach our children that all people are equal, and that no one, regardless of color or social status, is better than anyone else.
