2008 Woodie Awards
Mandatory public service would benefit country's college students
Christina Moran '07
Issue date: 11/10/06 Section: Opinion
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They call us the iGeneration. We spend our lives in the blue light glow of our televisions, computers, and iPods. We never get out into the so-called real world. We never meet with reality until it's too late.
They call us the Boomerang Generation. Our parents sent us off to college at the bright-eyed age of 18, and we return home in our mid-twenties bleary-eyed without a clue as to how to fend for ourselves.
They call us Generation Debt. We take five, six, even seven years to graduate. We change our majors once, twice, three times. When we finally decide, we are bogged down in tens of thousands of dollars of debt with no clue as to how to get out.
Some suggest financial reforms. Others propose college courses focusing on life skills. But an increasing minority is proposing another solution that forces our generation and others like us to actually hold our breath and take the plunge into the real world.
The idea is simple. Between high school and college, young adults everywhere would put education on hold for a year for mandatory public service. They could choose the venue - education, military, or social service - and spend one year living as a contributing member of society.
Aside from the obvious benefits to the nation as a whole in terms of increased national service, our generation stands to gain from what college administrators refer to as a "gap year", or a year between high school and college.
Students who take a year off before college to engage in service or enter the work force are ahead when they finally enter college, according to CNN. The first week of college isn't their first week living alone. Loans aren't their first foray into financial matters, and eating at the cafeteria isn't the first time they've had to turn to someone other than mom for dinner.
Harvard University even recommends the gap year to prospective students, according to CNN. The extra year helps cultivate more mature, independent, and focused students. Students then know who they are and what they want to do because they've had more time to think.
They call us the Boomerang Generation. Our parents sent us off to college at the bright-eyed age of 18, and we return home in our mid-twenties bleary-eyed without a clue as to how to fend for ourselves.
They call us Generation Debt. We take five, six, even seven years to graduate. We change our majors once, twice, three times. When we finally decide, we are bogged down in tens of thousands of dollars of debt with no clue as to how to get out.
Some suggest financial reforms. Others propose college courses focusing on life skills. But an increasing minority is proposing another solution that forces our generation and others like us to actually hold our breath and take the plunge into the real world.
The idea is simple. Between high school and college, young adults everywhere would put education on hold for a year for mandatory public service. They could choose the venue - education, military, or social service - and spend one year living as a contributing member of society.
Aside from the obvious benefits to the nation as a whole in terms of increased national service, our generation stands to gain from what college administrators refer to as a "gap year", or a year between high school and college.
Students who take a year off before college to engage in service or enter the work force are ahead when they finally enter college, according to CNN. The first week of college isn't their first week living alone. Loans aren't their first foray into financial matters, and eating at the cafeteria isn't the first time they've had to turn to someone other than mom for dinner.
Harvard University even recommends the gap year to prospective students, according to CNN. The extra year helps cultivate more mature, independent, and focused students. Students then know who they are and what they want to do because they've had more time to think.
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