Youngsters in the UK have traditionally taken a year off between finishing the exams at 18 which qualify them for university and starting their university courses. This does not appear to be usual or common in mainland Europe. Is it customary in the States?
A few youngsters may spend the time in varied work experience in the UK but the usual practice is to take work, usually of a charitable nature, abroad. This is known as their 'gap year'. Older universities, such as Oxford and Cambridge, always expected their intake to have a gap year. The thinking was that a student who had done nothing but work in school was ill-prepared for life in university, let alone the outside world, and would acquire some maturity in their time away from academic study.
At the Bar I found quite a difference between candidates for pupillage (the year of supervised apprenticeship that all barristers must have ) who had had even minimal exposure to the working world or other cultures and those who had none, having gone straight from school to university.(Best of all were those who were older than the usual intake and who had some years 'outside': one I had had got his law degree and then played professional soccer for a few years before coming into the profession, but one could hardly expect that of all )
In the US, many students complete their Senior year in June and are attending college by August the same year. They have often been accepted into the college of their choice (or as near as possible) over a year in advance of their attendance.
I, myself, did work as a volunteer for a year after graduating High School before starting college. Of course, I didn't leave the country, but I did go far from home (to me it was far anyway at that time) over 8 hours away and so I felt Independent.
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I don't have numbers on this, so this is all based on my impressions. In the American analogs of Oxford and Cambridge (such as Ivy League schools) and in the "near-ivies," I don't think a gap year is very common, although some certainly do it, I almost did. At state schools, it's more common for there to be some sort of a gap between high school and college, but it seems like it's more often economically motivated than anything else.
I think it is difficult to compare the UK and US universities in regard to this. Many, many US students already hold jobs while in high school, and certainly while in college. Thus they already have some experience in the "real world". We also have a growing number, some say almost 25%, of students older than average (25 years old and up), who have put off college for various reasons. Study abroad is also very common during the students' university experience.
A question, though. In a documentary I saw years ago it was said that a very small percentage in the UK actually go to the university. Do you have a current figure, Fred?
Postscript: I recall that at one time in some European countries the decision whether a student would follow a track leading to the university or to a vocational program was made by the time he was aged 12 or so. Don't know if that is still the case.
Originally posted by juanruiz: I think it is difficult to compare the UK and US universities in regard to this. Many, many US students already hold jobs while in high school, and certainly while in college. Thus they already have some experience in the "real world". We also have a growing number, some say almost 25%, of students older than average (25 years old and up), who have put off college for various reasons. Study abroad is also very common during the students' university experience.
A question, though. In a documentary I saw years ago it was said that a very small percentage in the UK actually go to the university. Do you have a current figure, Fred?
Postscript: I recall that at one time in some European countries the decision whether a student would follow a track leading to the university or to a vocational program was made by the time he was aged 12 or so. Don't know if that is still the case.
52 per cent of young people got to further education (2004) but that may not mean university. In any case what is now a university is not necessarily quite the same as , say, 40 years ago because the government has created many more and adopted something of an open door policy in some cases. Though all are academic there is a suspicion of some easing of standards in some areas
The national 11 plus exam, which is what you are referring to if you are thinking of Britain, was abolished quite a long time ago. It was a culture fair exam of I.Q. and mathematics and English. The results dictated whether the child went to an academic school and so on track to university or some occupation involving acdemic abilities or did not.
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