Some students take a gap year after graduating high school to work and/or travel. Discus the advantages and disadvantages.

Taking a

year

off after completing high school has become a popular trend among adolescents in many countries. From my perspective,

this

tendency has both benefits and drawbacks for youngsters. In

this

essay, I will discuss both sides and draw my conclusion. On the

one

hand, having

one

year

gap enables

students

to have more time to discover themselves and understand their real passion which allows them to have a better choice for their main major in university. In fact, there is a phenomenon that numerous teenagers decide to quit their educational institutions after studying for

one

or two years.

This

is because they are no longer interested in the major that they chose.

In addition

, those

students

who choose to work after completing high school can achieve relevant working

experience

and necessary skills which in turn help them to adapt to the workplace more easily and quickly.

For example

, real

experience

with different cultural values accumulated by travelling to several parts of the world will be an advantage for

students

in the hospitality industry.

On the other hand

,

this

approach

also

brings certain disadvantages to learners.

Firstly

, they are likely to face more difficulties in re-entering the academic life which is always full of tasks and assignments.

Therefore

, they may feel stressed and pressured at first since the

experience

is not as relaxed and enjoyable as what they had in the previous

year

. Later on, they are more likely to fall behind. The second disadvantage is related to costs. Basically,

one

year

of travelling is quite cost-consuming, including transportation costs, accommodation and food and so on. It is true that when learners decide to travel or do some temporary jobs, they might not be able to have a stable income.

Consequently

, they are unable to support financial themselves which ultimately leads to incurred debt.

To conclude

,

while

taking a

year

gap provides

students

with more chances to discover themselves and gain more relevant practical working

experience

and necessary skills which are useful for their future careers,

this

approach hinders them from coming back to school and is quite costly.

As a result

,

students

are required to consider it carefully before making decisions about whether they delay their studying or not.