Some students prefer to take a gap year between high school and university, to work or to travel. Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?

Question

Traditionally, high school senior will either pursue college or enter workforce after graduation. However, these day, the fact that more and more students are taking a gap year to travel or work instead of embarking on formal university education. While there are certain benefits to students. I believe that the negative influences of this paractice are more glaring

On the one hand, defering tertiary education for one year is avantageous to a certain exxtent. Firstly, new graduates will have more time to enrich life experiences and hone practical skills. For example, when living abroad, students have to adapt quickly to an alien culture, which requires them to live independently and pick up new foreign languages. Second, given the fact that most high school don't provide adequate career guidance, spending several months looking for job opportunities or attending vocational course will allow them to identify a suitable career path. These experiences would be hardly attainable if student enroll in university immediately and become occupied with intense study schedules.

On the other hand, the aforementioned benefits may pale in comparison with the significant drawback of having a year-long break prior to attending higher education. The main drawback is that gap-year taker may fall behind in their study and facing peer pressure, which could possibly drain their confidence. In addition to this, high school seniors can lose momentum, fiding it hard to resume their study after a long time being away from formal schooling. Last but not least, there are not many job available to high school leavers, most of the job are entry-level ones that neither pay well nor teach them anything substantive. Therefore, young people who decide to work right away after graduation are unlikely to save up a lot of money or cultivate relevant job skills during the gap year.
In conclusion, while the potential benefits of taking a gap year make it seem like a good idea, I would contend that the given disadvantages do not make it a worthwhile path.

Answer 1

Traditionally, high school senior will either pursue college or enter workforce after graduation. However, these days, there is the fact that more and more students are taking a gap year to travel or work instead of embarking on formal university education. While there are certain benefits to students. I believe that the negative influences of this practice -->  phenomenon are more glaring

On the one hand, defering tertiary education --> postponing college plans for one year is avantageous to a certain extent --> is beneficial to certain cases. Firstly, new graduates will have more time to enrich life experiences and hone practical skills. For example, when living abroad, students have to adapt quickly to an alien culture, which requires them to live independently and pick up new foreign languages. Second, -->  Secondly, given the fact that most high schools don't provide adequate career guidance, spending several months looking for job opportunities or attending vocational course will allow them to identify a suitable career path. These experiences would be hardly attainable if students enroll in university immediately and become occupied with intense study schedules.

On the other hand, the aforementioned benefits may pale in comparison with the significant drawback of having a year-long break prior to attending higher education. The main drawback is that gap-year taker may fall behind in their study and facing --> face peer pressure, which could possibly drain their confidence. In addition to this, high school seniors can lose momentum, fiding -->  and it hard to resume their study after a long time being away from formal schooling. Last but not least, -->  Finally, there are not many jobs available to high school leavers, most of the jobs are entry-level ones that neither pay well nor teach them anything substantive. Therefore, young people who decide to work right away after graduation are unlikely to save up a lot of money or cultivate relevant job skills during the gap year.
In conclusion, while the potential benefits of taking a gap year make it seem like a good idea, I would contend that the given disadvantages do not make it a worthwhile path.