Taking a study break after high school and before starting university is very common in certain countries. Many people take a year break to either travel and explore different countries or they may take up some job in gain experience. This practice has both pros and cons.
First of all, taking a break could really help in rejuvenating people. When you travel, you gain a lot of experience. Usually, when people are in high school they live under protected home environment; in the case of any problem, you can seek parents and friends help and advice. But when you travel, you are on your own and if you face any problem, you learn to deal with it. This not only gives you the experience to deal with tough situations later in the life but also gives confidence.
Many a times, young people are confused regarding their career options and are often in dilemma regarding the subjects to choose in universities. Taking up a job before university can help in identifying the field of interest and provide relevant experience. At the same time it also makes them financially independent, some students often save money to fund their university study with this. For instance, before starting university, I was confused whether I should go for computer engineering or electronics engineering; but after working in small start up computer company, I realised that I liked coding and would spend hours in front of computers to automate several process. This work experience helped me in clearing up my mind and I was 100 percent confident that this is something I would study and having a career in.
Sometimes taking a break can also have negative impacts on people. When ones start working, people often take up jobs that require low skills yet provide easy money. For example, jobs like salesman, BPO jobs etc. Since people become financially independent, they might continue doing the same job and never join university back. It is quite evident in developed countries where many students take up menial jobs and drop out of universities.
In conclusion, as every coin has two sides; on one side taking a break can really help some people to gain exposure to the world, understand the diversity and make better career choices. On the other side, it may ruin their whole life, easy access to money can restrict their desire to further studies. It is therefore very crucial that one evaluates all the options and take an informed decision