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It is becoming increasingly popular to have a year off between finishing school and going to university. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this?

#year #school #university
More and more
students
 are taking a
year
 away from their
studies
 between graduating from school and beginning
university
.
Students
 can save for and think about their future during
this
 period, though there are several drawbacks to consider.
To begin
 with, by taking a
year
 after high school,
students
 can avoid the costly mistakes of starting a degree that they are not interested in. A
year
 is a good
time
 to consider options and decide what subject is best to study.
Secondly
, a gap
year
 is excellent for character development. When graduating high school at 18, most people still don’t know what life direction they wish to take.
Studies
 show that
students
 who take a gap
year
 doing something constructive like travelling do better at
university
 later on than those who do not.
Finally
, a
year
 away from
studies
 provides the chance to save money. That way, at
university
,
students
 may focus more on classes, and less on debt.
However
, spending
such
 a long
time
 away from studying may cause some
students
 to lose good study habits, and gain bad habits
instead
. After 12 years of continuous schooling, many teenagers may be distracted by the prospect of earning money and lose the motivation to continue their
studies
.
Furthermore
, individuals without a constructive plan for their education-free
year
 may be tempted to procrastinate and waste
time
.
Lastly
, travelling overseas can be expensive, and there is a real possibility that
students
 may end up in more debt by the start of the
university
year
. To sum up,
although
students
 who take a
year
 out can save money and achieve greater life direction,
this
time
 may
also
 be wasted, lead to greater debt, or cause unintended life decisions that may later be regretted.
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Topic Vocabulary:
  • gap year
  • work experience
  • internships
  • traveling
  • life experiences
  • personal development
  • independent
  • self-reliant
  • educational progress
  • graduation timeline
  • financial burden
  • academic momentum
  • structured academic environment
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