With Covid-19 leading many colleges to create novel arrangements for schooling in the fall, students are reportedly considering taking gap years at record rates.

Many, including me, have encouraged the practice—not just during the current time, but more generally—as an important step for students to discover their passions, purpose, and how they can contribute in the world so that they enter college with a clear sense of why they are enrolled, which will boost their odds of success.

Others have pushed back. They observe that gap years are something for the privileged and argue that they are a terrible idea for low-income students.