Topic: In some countries, some high school leavers are choosing to work or travel for a period of time before going to university. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of those school leavers’ decision. Give your own opinion.
Answer:
It many people choose to get a job or travel straight after high school before going to university. While this brings both advantages and disadvantages, I would argue that those school leavers’ decision have more advantages.
On the one hand, there are a lot of reasons why taking a gap year before studying at university is disadvantageous. One reason is that traveling may cost them a great deal such as paying for flights, transportation and accommodation. Because teenagers do not have a job, they could not pay for all this expenses by themselves and need their parents’ financial help. Furthermore, it is difficulte to seek a job without academic qualifications which employers expect these days.
On the other hand, I believe that the option spending time on working or traveling of school leavers before going to higher education brings a variety of advantages. Firstly, young people would have a chance to broaden their knowledge about different fields from history to linguistics. For example, if they go abroad to countries using English as first language, they will be able to hear and speak English constantly, thus this gives them countless opportunities to improve their English skill. Secondly, youngsters who get a job instead of studying college or university could improve vital soft skills. It allows them to communicate with many co-workers from different backgrounds. As a result, they can learn how to build strong relationships with others and how to manage conflicts which they cannot know if they learn in their classes.
In conclusion, although choosing to work or travel has both benefits and drawbacks, it seems to me that there are more benefits.