間隔年休學 如此冒險對於走進職場的效用

There is no way to know for sure except by asking some of the people who have had the experience.

要想了解確切情況，最好的辦法是詢問有過這種經歷的人。

Susie Steele took time off from the University of Vermont to teach disabled people to ski and eventually landed a plum full-time job at the Keystone Science School in Keystone, Colo.

蘇茜•斯蒂爾(Susie Steele)從佛蒙特大學(University of Vermont)休學了一段時間，教殘疾人滑雪，後來在科羅拉多州基斯通的基斯通科學學校(Keystone Science School)獲得了一份待遇很好的全職工作。

Now a middle-school biology teacher in Louisville, Colo., Ms Steele, 44, figures her odds would have been quite long without the gap year.

44歲的斯蒂爾現在是科羅拉多州路易斯維爾的一名中學生物教師。她說，如果沒有那個間隔年，她的成功之路會曲折很多。

Akiima Price took a break from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to work with the Student Conservation Association in Nevada.

阿奇瑪•普賴斯(Akiima Price)從馬里蘭大學東海岸分校(University of Maryland Eastern Shore)休學，去內華達州的學生環境保護協會(Student Conservation Association)工作了一段時間。

The organization eventually hired her full time, and she has forged a career in and around environmental education and community work.

該協會最終聘用她爲全職員工，後來她在環境教育和社區工作方面開創了一番事業。

Now, looking back on my résumé, all of the dots ended up connecting, said Ms Price, 44, who lives in Washington.

現在，回頭看看我的簡歷，所有的點都連上了，現年44歲、在華盛頓生活的普賴斯說。

I would tell younger Akiima to trust the process.

我會對年少時的阿奇瑪說，相信這個過程會有收穫。

Parents would be wise to adopt that mantra, too, and not just because tens of thousands of tuition dollars may go to waste if a college student has a burning desire to be elsewhere.

父母們也應該明智地相信這些箴言，不只是因爲如果一名大學生強烈地想去其他地方，那麼，勉強留在學校就是白白浪費數萬美元的學費。

Even if a gap year does not lead to a job offer and an obvious career track, it can light a spark that ends up burning in a different way many years later.

即使間隔年沒有讓你獲得一份工作或找到明確的事業方向，它也可能點亮星星之火，在多年後以不同的方式燃燒成熊熊大火。

Cory Mason spent his gap year as a project manager for Habitat for Humanity in Savannah, Ga.

科裏•梅森(Cory Mason)在間隔年擔任喬治亞州薩凡納市仁人家園(Habitat for Humanity)的項目經理。

Today, he’s a Wisconsin state representative who calls on his experience quite often, even if he doesn’t pick up a hammer much these days.

而今他是威斯康星州衆議員，他經常回憶起自己的那段經歷——儘管現在他很少拿起錘子幹活。

It wasn’t just about housing but more about poverty and how hard it is for working people who still make poverty wages to move into the middle class, he said.

它不只是關於住房，更多的是關於貧窮以及依然只能掙到微薄薪水的工薪階級想要成爲中產階級是多麼困難，他說

It gave me as much of a lesson on that as it did on how to frame a house or put shingles on a roof.

它在這方面給我上了一課，而不僅是教我如何搭建房子的框架，如何把木瓦放到屋頂上。

Mr Mason earned room, board and a tiny stipend during his gap year.

梅森在間隔年的項目中獲得了食宿和一點獎學金。

And plenty of revenue-neutral or moneymaking gap year experiences are available, despite the phenomenon’s reputation as a sort of rich kid’s layabout.

還有很多人的間隔年是收入中立甚至賺錢的，儘管有人認爲這種現象是富家子弟遊手好閒的行爲。

Still, some educators question whether there isn’t some class privilege at work here.

不過，有些教育者質疑其中是否有階級特權在起作用。

Chad Hammett, who took three semesters off from the University of Texas,

查德•哈米特(Chad Hammett)曾從德克薩斯大學(University of Texas)休學三個學期。

now teaches English at Texas State University.

如今他在德克薩斯州立大學(Texas State University)教英語。

He figures that maybe a quarter of the students he encounters would have been better served by a gap year, but he worries about the momentum of the students he sees who are the first in their families to go to college.

他說自己遇見的學生中約有四分之一更適合去體驗間隔年，不過他擔心那些是家中首個大學生的學生對此沒有太大動力。

This may be their one chance, and any kind of delay would be admitting that they’re not ready and don’t belong, he said.

這可能是他們上大學的唯一機會，任何拖延都會被認爲是承認自己還沒準備好，或不適合上大學，他說。

For others, however, a year in between was just the thing they needed.

不過，對其他人來說，間隔年正是他們所需要的。

Celia Quezada was a first-generation college student and spent a year in Belgium in a Rotary program before beginning her freshman year at Williams College.

塞莉婭•克薩達(Celia Quezada)是家中的第一代大學生，在去威廉斯學院(Williams College)上大一之前，她參加扶輪社(Rotary)的一個項目，在比利時待了一年。

Had I not done the exchange program, I would have dropped out just from the culture shock, she said.

如果沒有參加那個交換項目，我可能因爲文化衝擊就退學了，她說。

Ms Quezada, 44, lives in Greenfield, Calif., and is now a first-grade teacher.

44歲的克薩達住在加利福尼亞州格林菲爾德，現在是一名一年級教師。

Her students are too young for any advice from her about possible college paths.

她的學生們太小，不需要在上大學的路徑方面得到她的建議。

But even the people who took the biggest risks during their gap year wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the experience to their own children.

不過，甚至連那些在間隔年最冒險的人也會毫不猶豫地建議自己的孩子去經歷這樣的體驗。

Eric Van Dusen traveled over land from Argentina to California during his time off, while his wife, Kara Nelson, taught in a migrant camp in Zimbabwe.

埃裏克•範杜森(Eric Van Dusen)在自己的間隔年從阿根廷穿越大陸來到加利福尼亞州，而他的妻子卡拉•納爾遜(Kara Nelson)則在津巴布韋的一個難民營教書。

They have two children, ages 8 and 12, who will be making their own educational choices soon, or will try to convince their parents that an alternative path is a swell idea.

他們有兩個孩子，分別是8歲和12歲，他們將很快做出自己的教育選擇或努力說服父母其他道路也很好。

The idea of knowing that my kids would be out there being autonomous and feeling self-directed and empowered by making decisions themselves makes me really happy, Ms Nelson said.

想到我的孩子們將獨立自主，進行自我指導，有能力自己做決定，我感到非常高興，納爾遜說。

Any risk may well be part of the point.

任何冒險都可能有它的意義。

Ted Conover took plenty of risks when he rode freight trains with hobos during his time off from Amherst College, and eventually wrote about the experience in his book, Rolling Nowhere.

特德•康諾弗(Ted Conover)從安默斯特學院(Amherst College)休學期間與流浪漢一起搭乘貨運列車，冒了很多險，最後他把那些經歷寫進了自己的書《漫無目的地前進》(Rolling Nowhere)中。

You get to define the terms of the risk, he said.

你要自己確定冒險的含義，他說，

Could I hop a train? Handle police? Defend myself? Deal with a blizzard in October or a rainstorm while out in the open? All kinds of things had never been asked of me, and I thought that the time was right to ask myself, to test myself.

我能扒火車嗎？我能應付警察嗎？我能保護自己嗎？我能在戶外應對10月的暴風雪或暴風雨嗎？之前我從沒想過這些事，當時我覺得是時候該問問自己、考驗自己了。

But even if you or your children have no stomach for riding the rails or hitchhiking in Central America, allowing for the possibility of something outside the norm just seems like good parenting.

但是，即使你或你的孩子沒興趣在中美洲扒火車或搭便車，但是允許常規之外的事情發生似乎是良好的養育方法。

Tracy Johnston Zager took time off to work on Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign in 1992, later studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and is the author of a coming book called Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You’d Had.

1992年，特蕾西•約翰斯頓•扎格(Tracy Johnston Zager)休學去爲比爾•克林頓(Bill Clinton)的總統競選團隊工作，後來以羅德學者(Rhodes Scholar)的身份在牛津大學(Oxford)學習，她即將出版一本書，名叫《成爲你自己理想中的數學老師》(Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You’d Had)。

Recently, however, she found herself in a teaching moment in her own home in Portland, Me.

不過前不久，她在緬因州波特蘭自己家中發現了一個進行教育的機會。

Her two young daughters found her examining artifacts from her days of political adventuring.

她的兩個年幼的女兒發現她在整理自己政治探險時期留下的物品。

They didn’t know about any of it, she said.

她們對此一無所知，她說，

They looked at me in a picture with the president and said, ‘Who’s that?’ Maybe it’s time they know this story.

她們看着與總統合影照片中的我問道：‘那是誰？’也許是時候讓她們知道這個故事了。