Over the next few weeks, students around the country will receive offers of admission to colleges and

universities. But before

students jump online and accept an offer, I have one piece of advice for them: They might be better off not going to college
next year.
Instead, they should think about taking a gap year, to defer college for a year to live and volunteer in a developing country.
In the traditional sort of gap year, students immerse themselves in a developing community to volunteer with a nonprofit
organization by teaching, working with local youth, or assuming some other community role.
Gap years have been rising in popularity in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and elsewhere. Ive spent the
last few years researching what happens to young people when they have such an immersive experience in a community
radically different from their own.
The answer, in short, is that gap years can help change students in ways the world needs.
The challenges of our time demand an educational system that can help young people to become citizens of the world. We
need our students to be smart, critical and innovative thinkers but also people of character who use their talents to help
others. Gap years help young adults understand themselves, their relationships, and the world around them, which deepens
capacities and perspectives crucial for effective citizenship. They help students become better thinkers and scholars, filled
with passion, purpose, and perspective.
How do people learn from gap years?
One principal lesson is clear: We often develop most when our understandings of ourselves and the world around us are
challenged -- when we engage with people and ideas that are different. Despite this insight, we often prioritize comfort and
self-segregate into groups of sameness. We tend to surround ourselves with people who think, talk, and look similar to us.
Taking a gap year speeds our development by upsetting these patterns. Trying to occupy another's way of life in
a different culture -- living with a new family, speaking the language, integrating into a community, perhaps working with local
youth, for instance -- these are valuable experiences that help young people understand themselves, develop empathy and
virtue, and expand their capacity to see the world from others' perspectives.
Traditionally, U.S. higher education has championed the idea of liberal arts as a way of getting students to engage with
difference, to expand their worldview beyond their known universe by (in the words of a Harvard research committee on
education) questioning assumptions, by inducing self-reflection... by encounters with radically different historical moments
and cultural formations.
However, formal classroom education alone cannot accomplish this aim. The classroom is limited in its ability to engage
students with difference and contribute to their development as able citizens. We also need new experiences that inspire
critical self-reflection to cultivate the right moral feelings and dispositions.
Whats important here is the productive dissonance that these long-term, immersive gap year experiences provide. It's
unlikely that a young person staying in America -- or even traveling overseas for a short time -- would have assumptions
about herself and the world around her challenged with the same intensity, frequency, and breadth as in a gap year in a
developing community.
It's interesting that spending time in developing communities can help young people appreciate ways of living that we need
more of -- such as a more active and intimate sense of community. Going overseas also helps to cultivate a type
of independence and self-confidence that staying close to home in a familiar environment probably does not.
Furthermore, taking the traditional kind of gap year after high school helps students to take full advantage of their time in
college. One telling observation is that many students who take gap years end up changing their intended major after
returning. During college, their gap year experiences enrich their courses, strengthen co-curricular endeavors, and animate
undergraduate research and creative projects.
To be clear: Though these gap year students are working in partnership with a community organization and aim to
make some positive impact, the students typically, at least in the short term, gain more than they are able to give. But this
empowers them to bring new perspectives to bear in other personal, professional, and civic efforts. Gap years, borrowing a
line from the Rhodes Scholarship Trust, can help create leaders for the worlds future.
Despite the benefits of these kinds of gap year experiences, too few Americans take gap years and too few colleges
encourage them. The treadmill from high school to college makes it hard for students to see alternative paths. But that is
changing. More people and organizations are beginning to see gap years for the formative experiences they can be, given
with the proper training, support, and community work. In fact, all the Ivy League universities now endorse gap years for
interested students. And theyre right to do so.
Many parents and students are nervous about the idea of spending an extended period in a developing country. But these
experiences, especially through structured gap year programs like Global Citizen Year, are generally very safe and supported.
Are there some risks? Of course, there are risks with any travel or change -- but the risks are worth taking. The investment in
taking a gap year will pay dividends throughout ones college career and beyond as ones life and society is enriched.
However, one central challenge that remains is how to finance gap years for students from lower-income families. This is also
beginning to change. The University of North Carolina and Princeton University, for instance, have both begun to subsidize
gap years for incoming students. Other organizations, such as Omprakash, now offer low-cost volunteer placements as well
as scholarships to those with need. And with the help of crowdfunding sites, students are able to fund-raise for these
experiences with greater ease. Despite these efforts, if gap years are to really expand, well need more institutions or
governments to offset the costs.
Higher education is societys last mass effort to really shape the character and trajectories of our young people. Lets help
them take more advantage of the precious time in college by taking a gap year before.