Gap Years - the United Arab Emirates - Essay Example

? Gap Years-United Arab Emirates “Gap Year” has become a common custom among many western and European countries. The term “Yap Year” refers to the time usually allowed for high school student to rest before proceeding to colleges or university. Britain, the United States and Australia are among the countries that have already adopted this custom. For instance, it is reported that about 660,000 U.K. school leavers take a gap year before proceeding to colleges and universities. As a result, some countries in the world particularly Asian countries where the custom has not been embraced are grapping with the dilema of whether to adopt the program for their teens or not. The United Arab Emiretes is one such country that is considering introducing the program in its education system. This follows the advantages associated with adopting the program as has been cited in countries where the program is a custom. Nevertheless, some skeptics have criticised the program arguing that it adds no good to the students and should not be adopted. Gap Years-United Arab Emirates Introduction The term “Gap Year” for a long time had been associated with the western and European countries, particularly the U.K. and the U.S.. “Gap Year” refers to the time duration in which high school students are allowed some time off from academic work before proceeding to colleges (Griffith, 2005). Griffith (2005) argues that gap year programs are mainly created to allow students to have fun, travel, participate in community services, as well as for personal growth. Britain is one among the countries in Europe that has adopted this custom within its education curriculum. Griffith (2005) points out that about 660,000 U.K. high school leavers take a Gap Year before proceeding to colleges. This custom has also been adopted in the U.S. as well, where students are being allowed to take a gap year before they can proceed to colleges. The exact number of students taking a gap year in the U.S. is, however, unknown but is thought to be in millions. Nevertheless, one wonders whether the custom of taking a gap year should be adopted in the United Arab Emirates. In fact, despite the fact that some critics have argued against allowing a gap year for students, there are many benefits that are associated with gap years. This paper will examines the reasons why teens in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) should adopt the Gap year custom of Britain. To begin with, Haigler and Nelson (2005) argue that learning about the world is one of the best forms of education that a child can get. However, teens can only learn more about the world if they can have some time to travel. Despite the fact that gap years are not designed for travelling, Haigler and Nelson (2005) reveal that a majority of teens who take gap years seize the chance to travel to foreign countries. This enables these teens to have a feeling of peculiar cultures, which acts as lessons as they discover new things that they would not have otherwise learnt if they did not get the opportunity to travel. Therefore, allowing UAE teens to take a gap year will be beneficial for their personal development in exploring different parts of the world and learning new cultures, which is very good experience. Griffith (2005) argues that people only live once. Therefore, teens should be given sometime off to have fun and enjoy themselves. This can only become a reality in the UAE is teens are allowed to take a gap year before joining high school. This is because taking a gap year will give them the opportunity to travel, explore, adventure, and discover more about themselves. In fact, reports indicate that thousands of British school leavers use gap years to have fun. The gap year program needs to be adopted by the UAE because it will give the teens the opportunity to learn more about themselves. For instance, gap years will enable UAE teens who have grown up in a structured family with clearly defined goals be it academic, sports, or athletics to be free to assess themselves. This will enable them discover what inspires them, as well as whom they are as noted by Haigler and Nelson (2005). Furthermore, gap years create room for self-actualization. Introducing gap years for the UAE teen will also be of great benefit because it gives teens time to work part-time and obtain money for college fees. Hindle and Bindloss (2005) noted that most students taking gap years in Britain use their time effectively by volunteering for different organizations, why others participate in community services in the country. In return, these organizations where the teens volunteer at provide sponsorship to the students at colleges, which helps save money a great deal. Gap year program will also be good for the UAE teens in that gives teens time to understand and make well-informed choices about the career path they want to pursue once they go to college. This is good because it prevents the teens from spending many years in the college without having a better understanding of what they have studied (Haigler and Nelson, 2005). In fact, research indicates that some of the teens who are not taking gap years tend to make poor career choices because of lack of enough time for making the choice. Gap year program will also be good for the UAE students since it enables the teens to have ample time to learn how to overcome the challenges in life (Haigler and Nelson, 2005). This is because as earlier stated gap year is not a time for idling, rather a time to engage in various activities such as community and volunteer services, which exposes students to the challenges in life and how to get along regardless of the challenges. Finally, gap year program will be necessary for the UAE teens since it will improve the challenges of the students getting admission to the colleges. This is because gap years give the teen a chance to learn different things that are looked at in awarding admissions as noted by Hindle and Bindloss (2005). Conclusion Gap year program is certainly the way to go in UAE. Therefore, the government of the UAE should do all it takes to introduce the program since the program will be of immense benefit to the teens in the country. References Griffith, S. (2005). Taking a gap year. New York, NY: Vacation Work. Haigler, K., & Nelson, R. (2005). The gap-year advantage: helping your child benefit from time off before or during college. London: St. Martin's Press. Hindle, C., & Bindloss, J. (2005). The gap year book. Hoboken, NJ: Lonely Planet. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/40032510/ns/travel-travel_tips/t/more-us-students-taking-gap-year-break/#.UQvWmfKpArg http://www.collegeview.com/articles/article/the-gap-year Read More