Many people currently are arguing about whether to travel or to obtain work experience. From my perspective, the choice largely depends on your practical needs, since they are all beneficial: as an apprentice, students can accumulate experiences; as a visitor, they will be open-minded to embrace a more colourful world.
In my country, people tend to dismiss travelling as merely wasting time and disproportionately emphasise working experience, and thereby I would like to defend the unpopular one first. Unlike many the stereotype that travelling is merely showering money on luxuries or physical pleasure, it actually grants us an opportunity to be linked with the world in distinctly different ways from that we have been familiar with, and thereby make us more willing to respect and accept diversities. One compelling example is seen in my fathers, who, like many people born in the 1960s, had detested and despised homosexuals, however, he gradually changed his mind when he saw a couple of homosexuals shed joyful tears for their marriage being celebrated by their families during our journey in Netherland. Without the chance offered by travel, we would have not known that we are willing to accept this colour of the world.
If the expansion, mentioned above, of ourselves is more about spirit, then engaging in work before universities can provide students with more practical benefits, and working experience. As a result of a global depression, the labour market has been radically competitive, and many employers straightforwardly refuse applicants without internship experience. Under this circumstance, obtaining relevant qualities in advance has become many students’ primary concern, which, to some degree, will determine whether they will be accessible to those companies with good salaries, like Tencent, Bit Dance, or Alibaba. According to a report published in China Daily, approximately 65% of employees working for the companies mentioned above had been trainees before they entered their universities. Therefore, if students hope to focus more on their careers, being an apprentice before university is also desirable.
To summarise, both travelling and working as an apprentice before registering in universities are beneficial. The former helps students to develop a more liberal mind, and the latter contributes to them achieving a successful career.