Obama grew up without his father, who was born in Kenya and is now deceased, and has spoken of his desire to be there for his kids.
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The elder of Obama’s two daughters is a 17-year-old senior at the exclusive Sidwell Friends school in the District of Columbia. Many take the time to travel or participate in resume boosters. She and her colleagues also found, for example, that the Australian and Finnish students who did not take time off before university were more committed to their academic goals than their peers who had – but on the other hand, they were also more stressed than the students who’d taken timeoff.
A group called “Where There Be Dragons” offers worldwide gap year programs. Here are four reasons why a school that offers a broad education can be a good choice for an artsy student.
Malia Obama’s gap year decision could keep her closer to home as her family prepares for a major transition next year – leaving the White House and returning to “normal life”. She can take the year to see if her heart lies in more traditional studies like science, politics or math, or if she wants to do something completely different-like study literature, languages, music, psychology, or theater.
Q: Are gap years expensive?
Wessel said what’s even more common is taking a gap year or years after a student finishes undergraduate studies, but before they start work or graduate school.
Gap years seem to be growing in popularity, but circumstances matter when deciding whether or not it’s the right thing for your student to do. “And I was asked if I would speak at her graduation, and I said, ‘Absolutely not, ‘ because I’m going to be sitting there with dark glasses, sobbing”. While it’s common practice elsewhere in the world, only 2.2% of incoming freshman in the United States class of 2015 took a year off before entering college, a recent study by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California Los Angeles found. Another popular program, Global Citizen Year, provides financial support – more than $6 million since 2010 – for students to pursue experiential learning. And while the details of Malia’s gap year aren’t yet public, it’s safe to say that it will be time well spent-and that she’ll show up at Harvard as planned a year from this fall.
“It’s hard to do it if you don’t have the resources”, said Chris Yager, founder of Where There Be Dragons, which leads global programs.
Students who took a gap year typically say they entered college feeling more recharged and focused, while universities say those students often arrive on campus as better leaders – more civically engaged and motivated. The vast majority of students who completed the AGA survey had parents who were college educated-higher, certainly, than the average college-bound teen (while this is not a ideal comparison, only a third of adults nationwide have completed their degrees).
Selingo cites research that gap-year students take their studies more seriously and are less likely to engage in risky behaviors like binge drinking. “We want to unlock the potential they have”.
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The New York Times says other schools visited were New York University, Tufts, Barnard and Wesleyan.
