| "twenty years from now you will be more | | | | expensive and it doesn't even have to be outside of |
| disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by | | | | their home country but it does have to be away |
| the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail | | | | from their day-to-day lives and away from their |
| away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in | | | | day-to-day pressures and routines. |
| your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain | | | | Through travel students can meet new people, |
| I don't know when it happened but it did. For some | | | | create new experiences with relevance and context |
| reason, someone, somewhere at sometime thought | | | | for their lives and it can also boost a young person's |
| it was a great idea to start pushing high school | | | | confidence. |
| students to rush off to university or college | | | | But Ryan, if all these students don't go to university |
| immediately after graduating. | | | | right away what will happen to the future of our |
| Are you telling kids NOT to go to university? | | | | nation and it's people? |
| No, well almost no. | | | | Well, England and other European countries actually |
| I encourage students to go to university and college | | | | push for students to take what they call a 'Gap |
| when they are ready for that type of experience. | | | | Year'. This is a year students are to take for |
| There are a ton of high school students who are | | | | themselves to travel, to volunteer, to work abroad |
| prepared for college and university right after finishing | | | | and to become more aware of themselves and their |
| high school but there are also those who need some | | | | future. After completing a Gap Year, students then |
| time. Now, I am not talking about time to play more | | | | enroll in university or college and then statistically |
| Xbox and watch more videos on YouTube. I am | | | | speaking are more likely to finish their program than |
| talking about taking time to figure themselves out a | | | | their US counterpart. |
| little bit more. To have some experiences that will | | | | England boasts an impressive 6.8% University |
| lead them to becoming more self-aware and to show | | | | dropout rate compared to the US where only 54% |
| them of the vast amount of possibilities for them | | | | of College students were surveyed to have a degree |
| and their future. | | | | 6 years after enrolling in their program. |
| One of my suggestions for students who aren't too | | | | So instead of pushing students to hurry up and |
| sure if university or college is right for them is to, | | | | decide which schools to apply to, we should be |
| GET LOST! | | | | encouraging them to decide which countries and cities |
| What I mean, is travel. | | | | to visit and to hurry up and get lost! |
| Travel pushes people outside of their comfort zones | | | | Could it be that getting lost is actually the best way |
| and usually shows them things they never knew | | | | for students to get found? |
| about themselves. The travel doesn't have to be | | | | |