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Research Blog #10: Abstract and Works Cited

The Covid Gap Year: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Exacerbates Anxieties About Higher Education Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant declines in college enrollments by low-income students caused by changes in family finances that have forced many to delay or pause their college attendance. Meanwhile, low-income students who have continued with college often suffer increased anxiety and difficulty keeping up with online instruction due to the digital divide. This paper examines whether a COVID-19 gap year is a viable option for low-income students, especially those who can use it to do identity work, by which they can obtain individualized cultural capital that will help them to complete college later but more quickly than other low-income students. The paper makes the argument that although the gap year option has traditionally been exercised by more affluent students, even low-income students can benefit from the experience if they can find meaningful identity work to
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Literature Review #5: I Wish I Had (Not) Taken a Gap-Year? The Psychological and Attainment Outcomes of Different Post-School Pathways.

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Citation:   Parker , Philip D., et al. “I Wish I Had (Not) Taken a Gap-Year? The Psychological and Attainment Outcomes of Different Post-School Pathways.” Developmental Psychology , vol. 51, no. 3, American Psychological Association, 2015, pp. 323–33, doi:10.1037/a0038667.   Summary: This paper conducts a longitudinal study on individuals from Finland and Australia, following them starting from high school and continuing until they age they would be halfway through college. The purpose of this study was to see how students who took a gap year had their academic trajectories affected. This was calculated based on their academic achievement, as well as their personal development. Based on several metrics, including degree completion and personality scores of life satisfaction, they found little measurable improvement. Author: Philip D. Parker is a professor for the Institute of Positive Psychology and Education for the Australian Catholic University. He has published numerous papers fo
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Argument and Counterargument

  Thesis Statement: Although the benefits of a gap year experience are often restricted by class due to their prohibitive cost, students from less affluent families should still consider taking a gap year as a means to obtain the necessary cultural capital to succeed in an academic environment Counter Argument:   The most contrary source I found during my research was one titled "I Wish I Had (Not) Taken a Gap-Year? The Psychological and Attainment Outcomes of Different Post-School Pathways." This paper outright denies any meaningful benefit to the college gap year, and even suggests that under certain circumstances it may lead to a higher rate of students dropping out. This does coincide with other evidence that links delaying the transition from high school to college with a decreased chance of finishing a bachelor's degree within eight years. This study, found that students who took a gap year reported little increase in university attendance, degree completion, or con
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Theoretical Frame: Academically Adrift

 This is a concept that has been discussed in a previous literary review, but it bears repeating since it is so important to my paper. This term, taken from the book Academically Adrift : Limited Learning on College , defines students from our current generation that enter college with high aspirations for success, but lacking any clear direction for how to achieve those goals. These students arose during the age of privatized college, where students were more encouraged than ever to attain a degree despite their financial situation. A lack of educational guidance in high school has also left many students without the proper "cultural capital" to navigate through the successful paths through college. The academically adrift generation intersects with the concept of the college pathways dicussed in Armstrong and Hamilton's book 'Paying for the Party.' Increasingly, students from lower-socioeconomic families fall into the appealing "party pathway," option,
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