Some school leavers travel or work for a period of time instead of going directly to the university. What are the advantages or disadvantages?

Deciding career pathways and academic pathways immediately after graduating from high
school
is a controversial topic in society. Many people hold the opinion that enrolling on
further
education has many benefits. Others,
however
, believe that there are many more drawbacks to becoming undergraduate
students
. Whilst, entering an educational institution soon after year 12 is advantageous in a few aspects, I agree that there are much more positivities of taking
gap
years
for travelling and working because of opportunities to gain life experience and to earn their living. On the one hand, there are two most considerable disadvantages of taking
gap
years
which are wasting their and deteriorating academic skill. While the majority of
school
leavers go to university to acquire knowledge, they will obtain a degree after three
years
of working hard. Those
students
who take
gap
years
, obviously are left behind by their peers.
Moreover
, as the result of inconsistent learning, they might be losing academic skills
such
as literacy or discipline.
For example
, if the
school
leavers enrol for a course after three
years
of travelling or working when they start as undergraduate
students
,
students
being in their age probably start security jobs take another step for post-graduation.
On the other hand
, the benefits of travelling and working after high
school
significantly outweigh the shortcomings.
Firstly
,
instead
of becoming full-time university
students
, they can become full-time workers to have a stable income.
Hence
, they can be financially independent which means they have less pressure when they go back to educational institutions later.
In addition
, some
students
have no idea what career they want to pursue in the
further
, so they can take
gap
years
to explore their personal preferences.
For example
, if they want to become healthcare workers, they can start with personal care workers or patient transporters to get familiar with the hospital environment. In conclusion, some
students
consider not taking
gap
years
due to the fear of being left behind by their peers and the need of relearning their academic skills.
Gap
years
,
however
, can bright to a number of benefits
such
as becoming independent in terms of financial aspects and choosing carefully their dreamed careers. In my opinion, the way of spending their time after high
school
is varied from person to person but having time to decide what they really want could be positive for most the
students
.
Submitted by thuphunghqv on

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Topic Vocabulary:
  • school leavers
  • real-world experience
  • independence
  • structured environment
  • financial benefits
  • academic momentum
  • gap year
  • rigors
  • sidetracked
  • social disconnect
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