Taking a year off od schoo -- high school, that is

[Apocalypse]

Some type of volunteer work would probably be the best. It's a lot harder to get into the best colleges without it. They also can make really good essays.

[DanS]

What about being an exchange student?

[The Emperor Fabulous]

Re: Taking a year off od schoo -- high school, that is

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly


Faced with this problem, young Miss Firefly has said she would prefer to take a year off between sophomore and junior year rather than miss out on IB. But aside from wearing a paper hat and flipping burgers, what would a 16-year old do for a year in the US?

Has she taken a foreign language? If so, perhaps a year abroad would do well. My sister took a year between high school and college and went with this org AFS to Germany. She just got back and is now attending UMass Amhearst. It was the best thing in the world for her.

Of course...now she's engaged to an ex-Neo Nazi...so there can be down sides...

[OzzyKP]

[Bereta_Eder]

bacalaureat is nice. you can study in any old eu univeristy you want. free admition. except greece. we are superior.

[Mao]

Ozzy's right, there's lots of learning. Hell, I learned more history playing civ2 scenarios than I *ever* did in history classes. I'm not sure about the "most" or "some" quantifications, but I'm sure someone else knows more about that.

Rufus, I heard also that you work for the DoS, I'm kinda curious about what you do, esp. since I'm an IR major at Tufts and looking possibly into such a career (hopefully with a JD...).

[Japher]

Maybe she should play Civ4. I killed a year with Civ2

[Aabraxan]

Originally posted by OzzyKP
Not true.

The problem is people have too narrow an understanding of learning. Sitting down with an algebra text book is not the only way to learn something. Heck, think of what everyone here has learned just from posting here in the OT and reading other people's thoughts and their links. That's self-directed learning and every teenager can, and most often do, stuff like that.

Maybe I should clarify my statement. When I think of "self-directed learning," I think of something that (for the most part, at least) lacks structure external to the teenager - in other words, basically leaving a teenager to his or her own devices to decide what to do with each day. My statement about self-directed learning & teenagers is certainly not true for all teenagers. However, I do think that most teenagers, left to their own devices, would spend a year watching tv and lounging. Would they learn something? Absolutely. Would they learn something useful? Maybe. Would they learn something appropriate? Maybe. I can't answer those two. There are too many variables in each case. Community groups, volunteer groups, and jobs, however, involve an element of external structure. There's a place to be, something to do. When you get to the question of tv, websurfing, games, etc., then the question becomes what games, what shows, what websites, etc., as well as factors unique to each teenager, such as maturity level, future plans, etc. For example, a year watching MTV may be perfectly fine for a 16-year-old who wants to be a video director in the future. It may be totally wrong for a different 16-year-old who wants to be a biologist. Nonetheless, I would not recommend letting most teenagers spend a year with no direction. For the ones who do have the judgment/maturity to decide how to spend that year, I'm all for it. I just don't believe that most teenagers have that kind of judgment. (Obviously, your results may vary.)

Helping out around the house involves learning. I'm amazed at how incompetent my 40 year old female housemates are at some simple household repairs. Maybe your daughter can learn how to replace the filter on your furnace or A/C or something.
Learning to program the VCR is learning.
You can learn by watching tv.
You can learn by playing video games.
You can learn by reading a book.
You can learn by surfing the web.
You can learn by following your interests and joining a community theater or whathaveyou. That counts.
If she's never worked before, you actually can learn quite a lot about the world just by flipping burgers.

Just don't be trapped into thinking listening to a lecture and reading a textbook is the only way to learn. Some people learn best that way, but honestly, most don't. Most (not all) people would learn MORE by not going to school for a year or more.

For the most part, I'd agree. Learning comes in many, many forms. I'd agree that a lot could be learned from the activities you listed. The question, however, is not whether you can learn something. The question here appears to be what a 16-year-old girl can do with her time for a year. Taking the notion that learning comes in many forms, to its logical extreme takes you well outside the realm of what's useful or appropriate for a 16-year-old girl. (And, no, I'm most certainly not claiming to be the arbiter of what's "appropriate" for Miss Firefly, or anybody's children but my own.)

[Japher]

Yeah, ppl also need to learn discipline and that sometime it takes time to get what you want. Why can't she do this later, when she's older, and done with HS.

IMO, I'd make her finish or take her GED or something and join the Peace Corps... In my house, you either go to school or you earn money, you don't do nothing.

[pchang]

If she is interested in theater, then DC is a very good place to take it up full time. There are a lot of good acting classes, theater groups to participate in (look for Helen Hayes affiliations), and theater performances to take in. However, this will cost you a fair amount of money (probably equivalent to tuition at a pviate school).

[Jon Miller]

do nothing will give her lots of bad habbits

and seriously, college is way better then IB, she should work to starting that in a year or so, instead of doing IB and starting college late

JM

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Great, thoughtful suggestions, everybody. Thanks! On a couple of points:

- doing nothing is not an option in our house, either.

- a community college course or two would be an option we'd consider.

- exchange student has possibilities but is hindered by teh fact that you don't seem to be able to be an exchange student without being enrolled in a school that's "exchanging" you -- and that's the whole problem.

- language work is an interesting idea. She's a good-but-bored student of Spanish, but was a very engaged student of German, and has lamented the fact that most schools don't offer German anymore. It would be a good chance to pick that up.

- I agree she could just speed up her move to college, but it doesn't seem to be what she wants. And given that she's on track for a toney private school, teh more time I have to save money, the better.

- The point about volunteer work and college admissions is well-taken.

Thanks again!

[Aabraxan]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
- exchange student has possibilities but is hindered by teh fact that you don't seem to be able to be an exchange student without being enrolled in a school that's "exchanging" you -- and that's the whole problem.

Is it possible to get her signed up for an exchange program before her sophomore year ends?

Also, it occurred to me that you may need to consider how the transfer of credits from exchange years to US high schools works. I don't have even the foggiest clue about that. I bring this up because it occurred to me that if: (a) she goes on an exchange year, and (b) credits do transfer, then she may be put in the position of having completed her junior year abroad. In other words, when she returns, she may only have one year of HS left. I don't know how that might affect her eligibility for the IB program, but may need to be taken into account.

[Stuie]

Originally posted by Japher
Maybe she should play Civ4. I killed a year with Civ2

That was the first thing that came to my mind; wish I could take a year off.