历年高中毕业生人数 疫情之下选择"间隔年"的高中毕业生人数增多

疫情之下选择"间隔年"的高中毕业生人数增多  

Devon Tyrie had a plan for the 2020-2021 academic year. The Massachusetts native wanted to take a gap year beeen graduating from high school and starting university
bining volunteer work
international travel and internships. But with the world still in the grip of Covid-19
it's clear her year will not pan out as envisaged.
Tyrie
18
says she's had to make a decision based on worst-case scenarios. She's been accepted by Middlebury College in Vermont
which like many US institutions
has not yet released plans for the uping semester. But some higher education institutions in both the US and the UK have already said they will shift to a predominantly online learning environment for part or all of the next academic year. Tyrie says she's had to weigh up the risks; if she goes straight to college her first year may be far from the traditional experience
yet if she takes a gap year
her activities will likely be limited. In the end
she's applied for a deferral to the next academic year. "It's kind of tough right now
not knowing
but I'm doing my best to make a plan
" says Tyrie.
Her reluctance to start her university education virtually is by no means unique. For students
it's not an attractive prospect
especially given most universities continue to charge full tuition fees. Madelyn Mackintosh
17
was looking forward to studying physiology and political science at McGill University in Canada. "Five months ago
a gap year was definitely not in the cards
" she says. But McGill is in Montreal
Canada's Covid-19 hotspot
leaving Mackintosh anxious. Then she found out that McGill was making most of its classes online. "That morning
I wrote to the deferral department and I requested a deferral."
实际上，她对于是否开始上大学的犹豫不决不是个例。对于学生来说，这时候上大学不是很令人向往，尤其是在多数大学继续收取全额学费的情况下。17岁的麦德琳·麦金托什本来很期待在加拿大的麦吉尔大学学习生理学和政治学。她说：“五个月前，我想都没想过休间隔年。”但是麦吉尔大学位于加拿大的新冠疫情重灾区蒙特利尔，这让麦金托什感到焦虑。接着她又发现，麦吉尔大学的大部分课程都要在线上进行。“那天早上，我写信给入学部，申请延期入学。”
Taking a gap year beeen high school and university is fairly mon in many parts of Europe
the UK
Australia and New Zealand. In the US
the practice is less mon
but attracted mainstream attention in 2016 when Barack Obama's daughter Malia took a gap year before attending Harvard University. Critics point out that the gap year is often an opportunity reserved for the wealthy. Yet the concept – and its pros and cons – is under increased scrutiny now as students all over the world weigh up their options for the year ahead.
In a recent study on Covid-19 and university access
the London-based Sutton Trust found that one in five university applicants (19%) in the UK had changed their mind about university attendance for the 2020 academic year – whether in terms of their preferred university or by deferring a place in favour of a gap year.
In the US
a survey conducted in April by Baltimore-based consulting firm Art & Science Group found that 17% of students had changed their college plans due to Covid-19. Of those students
16% indicated that they would take a gap year
while 17% said they would wait until the spring semester (which would start in January 2021) to enrol in university full-time. A third said they would enrol in university on a part-time basis.
It's far from being an easy decision. Gabriel Hostin
17
had decided before Covid-19 that he would take a gap year before attending Harvard. Now
he says
there are uncertainties surrounding his plans to travel internationally – something he hopes will change at the start of 2021. In terms of the immediate future
he's looking at domestic volunteer programmes including munity work closer to the New York area
where he's from. For his peers who are going straight to university
he says there's concern about not being able to be on the campus when the academic year starts. "For me
that's not college
" says Hostin.
It's a sentiment that Joshua Kim and Edward Maloney
authors of Learning Innovation and The Future Of Higher Education
understand. But Kim
the director of online programs and strategy at Dartmouth College
says
"I think you really have to distinguish beeen true gap year experiences and simply stopping for a year or waiting for a year."
Kim
whose daughter took a gap year in South Korea through a US-government funded initiative
says that for a gap year to be valuable
it needs to be educational and ideally have a structured ponent. That's extremely difficult to do right now
says Maloney
with social distancing rules and travel restrictions likely to be in place for the foreseeable future. Having an unplanned and unstructured gap year that essentially equates to a "leave of absence" can be detrimental to students
say Kim and Maloney
because they're more likely to lose their momentum and decide not to attend college altogether.
"The good news is there is no wrong decision. The bad news is there is no right decision either
" says Michelle Dittmer
president and co-founder of the Canadian Gap Year Association.
For those who struggle to find meaningful activities
Dittmer suggests thinking about using the skills you have to help anisations that might benefit.