It is asserted that taking a year gap between finishing high school and starting university education become increasingly prevalent among students. While some believe this presents a number of benefits, in my opinion, the drawbacks are far more significant, primarily because of losing academic momentum and the financial or safety risks.
One of the key advantages of taking time off before university is that they can obtain practical skills. This is because working in a real-life environments offers them with the opportunity to attain skills such as communication, problem-solving, time management, and so on. Besides, another positive aspect is becoming matured and independence, as they get to learn taking responsibilities, and be disciplined, helping them to be more matured and reliable. For example, students working part-time or full-time during gap year are observed to be more confident, as well as better at variety of skills. Therefore, delaying university education is undoubtedly beneficial for personal growth and gaining real-life skills.
Despite these merits, there are also demerits associated with this. One prime adverse impact is the loss of academic focus. This can be problematic since students returning to study after a year gap my lose their academic focus and find it challenging to continue their study, resulting in having poor academic performances. In addition, financial or safety risks can post a challenge, as this can lead to becoming financially unstable or experiencing severe injuries. In other words, as travellig has become expensive, learners without earning sufficient money would have to borrow money from their family, putting an immense financial burden on their family, along with being hurt in any serious accidents. For example, numerous studies have found that around two-thirds of students putting off university education are negatively impacted due to these. Hence, taking a gap period is unquestionaby detrimental for their well-being and academic career.
To recapitulate, although taking a gap year offers potential benefits such as learning several skills and becoming confident, it also possesses certain drawbacks including losing academic concentration, and becoming financially unstable or experiencing accidents. However, from my perspective, the disdvantages of this phenomenon outweigh its advantages.