Dear Always,
“Should he take a semester of?”
No. He should stay in yeshiva and be mindful of others. Put back the sefarim he takes out. Clean up his spills. Not interrupt people who are learning. Return a kind word with a smile. Yeshiva is the best place to put what we learn into practice.
The average person starts of learning so that he can continue learning. Most of us slack of before we get to the point that it really transforms us. So we settle for a slight improvement. Our wrongful behavior is very much a part of us before we even learn Aleph Bais.