{"id":332,"date":"2015-11-18T11:54:23","date_gmt":"2015-11-18T16:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acutabove.wpengine.com\/?p=332"},"modified":"2015-12-03T15:24:04","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T20:24:04","slug":"students-should-consider-an-education-intermission-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=332","title":{"rendered":"Students should consider an education intermission"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Tori Phelps<\/strong><br \/>\nThe Source<br \/>\nStoney Creek HS<br \/>\n1st Place<br \/>\nDivision 1, News Writing<br \/>\nEditorial<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Since eighth grade, the school counselors have prodded us to decide our future college and career plans.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t their fault; they have our best interests at heart. But with school and society pressing college on people at such a young age, fewer students see the possibility of a future without immediate college education. The negative stereotype of the unemployed, unmotivated child who still lives with her parents is too often attached to those who decide to try other things before attending college. Despite these societal pressures, students should seriously consider taking a gap year in which they could travel, join a military branch, work, or intern before they start college.<\/p>\n<p>The most obvious reason is the expense: college will burn a sizable hole in your wallet. According to American Student Assistance, in 2011, around 57 percent of public four-year\u00a0college students graduated with debt.<\/p>\n<p>Waiting on college also gives students time to mature and find the paths they feel passionate about. Though the online resources encouraged by the school are helpful, they\u2019re just the first step in the process of deciding students\u2019 futures\u2014actual experience in various fields is more important in narrowing the list of potential careers.<\/p>\n<p>If students don\u2019t spend time getting experience, but attend college without an inkling of what career paths they want to follow, they\u2019ve wasted a lot of money on a degree they don\u2019t even want. Or maybe students know what they want to do, but after earning a degree and starting at a job, they realize the career doesn\u2019t suit them at all. These situations are common: according to a study by Rutgers, only 44 percent of college graduates had a first job that was closely related to their education.<\/p>\n<p>A year spent in different cultures, in a military setting, or in the workplace doesn\u2019t just help students find where they belong; it adds more real-world experience to their r\u00e9sum\u00e9s. True, some jobs value higher education over experience, but that is not true for all jobs. Students should research whether employees in their possible careers prefer experience or education.<\/p>\n<p>Also, the negative stereotype associated with those who take a gap year will fade away if more motivated students come to the realization that immediate education isn\u2019t always the right answer. Simple solutions like a written plan will also help such students stay on track to fight the stereotype.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the pressures of society, students should take seriously the value a gap year could have for their futures, as it could save them money and earn them a job they actually enjoy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Tori Phelps The Source Stoney Creek HS 1st Place Division 1, News Writing Editorial<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,44],"tags":[48,20],"class_list":["post-332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-nw","category-editorial-nw","tag-48","tag-division1","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kelsey Parkinson","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=3"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-5m","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}