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The Gap Year and the Case for Experiential Learning

“The world is a book, and those who stay at home read only one page”.
(Saint Augustine).

This blog post is intended for High School students, parents of High School students, and anyone else with an interest in the Gap Year experience and Experiential Learning. I define Experiential Learning as learning outside the classroom, learning that is based on hands on activities, concrete and practical learning, as opposed to theoretical in the classroom learning. What qualifies as Experiential Learning versus theoretical learning is, of course, usually a matter of degree. And, the notion of a “Gap Year” is only really relevant in a culture that is so singularly focused on career success and social advancement.

How big do you want your world to be? This is indeed meant as a very real and genuine question. How big do you want your world to be? I’m asking because I think you have an important choice to make in this regard. You can choose to stay in your town/neighborhood/city after High School. There may be a college nearby so you don’t have to venture far from what you know. That’s an option. There is a big world out there, but you may find most of what you could possibly desire in life just around the corner. Right? You know what you know, you like what you like, you know who you know. Comfortable. Safe. Known. Predictable. There may even be a path already staked out for you. So, whatever Dr. Seuss had to say on the matter, “Oh, the places you’ll go”, may by your own choice be rather limited. Or not.

The Gap Year (or however long you choose your gap to be) offers an alternative and experiential learning opportunity. The world can be an amazing classroom. The American educator John Dewey coined the phrase “learning by doing”. In Sweden, where I grew up, we have a saying, “det du lar med kroppen satter sig i knoppen”, meaning, although without the catchy rhyme, “what you do with your body will register in your head”. Experiential Learning is an invitation to learn through all your senses, and the Gap Year learning experience is an invitation to activate all your senses out in the world. It’s an invitation to step out into the world as your classroom, a classroom much bigger and much more complex than any classroom you have ever known. And here you’ll find teachers, lessons and learnings in the most mundane circumstances, and in places where you might have expected it the least. So, here I’m advocating for experiential learning outside the classroom, which is, of course, the same place where learnings, knowledge, and experience should be used. The good news is that, once you open up the door to Gap Year learning, there are endless possibilities of what you can do. Do you want to learn by working at your local hardware store; or volunteer in the kitchen of a yoga and meditation retreat center; or perhaps work as an English teacher in South Korea; or volunteer to restore old buildings with Habitat for Humanity; or do you want to work at a farm in Nepal; or volunteer with a political campaign; or study Spanish in Mexico….the possibilities truly are endless.

I come to this topic with my own experiences, my own education inside and outside of classrooms. I come with my own history of searching for meaning and purpose in life, as well as searching for myself really, who I wanted to be, an identity. My first Gap Year experience was half way through High School in Sweden when I worked for a year, first at a factory drilling holders for ball bearings, and then as an office assistant. This search for something bigger, something more alive and meaningful than what I had found in my own little classroom in my own little “village” (well, it was a city, but in the larger scope of things, still a “village”) where I grew up is, of course, far from unique to me. I imagine you have similar desires to figure out who you want to be, and what you want to learn more about, and what you might want to engage more deeply with. So, somehow I found myself stepping out into the new and unknown, and I did so with both excitement and trepidation. And I expect it will be rather similar for you. Back in 1978 I was ready for another Gap experience. This time opening up to the world even more, traveling, mostly by myself, for three months in Southeast Asia. I still at times wonder where my courage came from. Can limitations and insularity be something to be grateful for, something that becomes an unyielding motivating force for curiosity, growth and expansion?

Many years ago I travelled in West Africa (yes, another Gap experience). Someone told the story of the Chamba people. In the Chamba language “chamba” means “human”. The Chamba lived with the belief that they were the only humans that existed. One day, however, they spotted far in the distance people they had never seen before, people who didn’t belong to them. From a safe distance they studied these foreign people, how they lived. In many ways these people behaved differently from the Chambas. The Chambas named these people “Bachambas”, “non-humans”.

How about you, are there any “Bachambas” in your life? What do you make of all the people you encounter who come from all different paths of life? People who think differently, and who see the world so differently than you do? Do these differences represent something to stay away from, or do they represent an opportunity to learn something new? How do you want to relate to all the “Bachambas” out there? Do you perhaps want to get to know them, and in the process realize, of course, that they are just as human as you are, that there are no “Bachambas”? What is your journey going to look like? What are you going to set out to explore? What is it that inspires and motivates you?

As I suggested earlier, I think you have an important decision to make. How big do you want your world to be? Really, how big? And how complex? Do you want to indulge your curiosity and seek to go beyond what your parents, media, teachers, and other “town folks” have taught you about the world? Do you want to go and see for yourself? It’s an option. I know, only some 3% of US High School graduates who are college bound choose to create a gap for themselves after High School. But, it is an option. You do, of course, get to have a real say in what you want to learn, how you want to go about this learning, and where and with whom you want to engage with in this learning. You now know quite well, I imagine, the benefits as well as the shortcomings of classroom learning. So, are you ready to consider the “who” (you?), the “what”, the “why”, the “where”, and the “with whom” of your continued journey of learning? Are you ready and willing to see with your own eyes, to learn with your own hands, to experience with your own being? Are you ready to muster your own courage in order to stake out a path that will differ from the one chosen by most of your friends? Are you ready to push beyond your present limits?

The Gap Year, and experiential learning in general, offers the possibility for developing a new and larger perspective on life. So, maybe you’re saying, “right, I want to expand my horizon, there’s a lot out there I don’t know much about. I am curious. I want to gain a greater perspective of the world”. Okay, that’s great! That enthusiasm, no doubt, is going to take you places. Now, you need to engage with your parents. They may be reluctant to see you not head straight to college. You need to make a plan for what you would like to do during your Gap Year. There are many considerations you need to consider. If you have applied to college and accepted an invitation, you’ll need to have your school agree for you to defer your enrollment for one year (or perhaps a semester). Then you’ll need to consider what you want to do and learn during your Gap. What are you truly interested in, and perhaps even passionate about? What do you want to learn and experience? What relative strengths might you want to develop even further, and what relative weaknesses might you want to strengthen? You also need to carefully consider, not only what you’d like to experience, but also what you’re ready to experience. What I mean is, what are you developmentally, or maturity-wise, ready for? We all have our limitations. The decision about what to do on your Gap experience has to be taken with care and prudence. You have to be realistic about what you are ready to, and capable of doing. The Russian Psychologist Vygotsky spoke of what he called “the development zone” – a zone just beyond what we already know, just beyond our present limits. But not too far beyond those limits. When in 1981 I travelled with a Swedish alternative school to West Africa, there was at least one of my fellow students who wasn’t psychologically/emotionally/socially fully equipped for this very demanding educational journey. He stretched way beyond his limits, and it could have ended badly. So, before you sign up, do you know your own relative strengths and relative weaknesses? What are you already knowledgeable and competent at? And what skills and competencies would you like to develop? These important questions is part of a growth oriented and developmental approach to creating a rewarding, productive, and safe Gap Year experience. So, maybe you want to pause for a second and reflect on the strengths you already possess, and the skills and competencies you are eager to develop further. Great! This is important as it will give you some very useful indicators for formulating the specific experiences that will be right for you.

I am passionate about the Gap Year Experience. There will be plenty of time for higher level studies, as well as for building a career. Now, however, might just be the right time for some lateral, side-ways, learning, experiential learning, which will enrich whatever else you’ll end up doing in your life. Expanded horizons, and an expansive perspective on the world will enrich all aspects of your life. It will enhance your life quality. It will enhance your level of happiness. But don’t take my word for it. Go see for yourself.