Traditionally, high school seniors will either pursue college or enter the workforce after their graduation. However, in this day and age, there is a third option – a gap year which students can take a one-year break to travel or work, is gaining traction. While there’s no doubt about the potential benefits of this idea, i personally believe that the negative influences of this growing development are more glaring.
It is understandable why delaying university enrollment for one year can be beneficial to a certain extent. Firstly, new graduates can travel and immense themselves in multiple cultures and learn new things. This could be attributed to the fact that many schools don’t teach students anything beside the academic knowledge. For example, when students living abroad, they will have to adapt quickly to new changes, such as living independently, picking up new languages. Therefore, this practice will help them enrich their life experiences and hone their practical skills. Secondly, it will be useful when it comes to identifying a suitable career path. Given that most schools provide inadequate career guidance so spending a few months looking for job opportunities or attending vocational training courses will enable them to figure out what aspects of career that they are good at. For instance, many students in school A tend to take a year-long break to do some part-time jobs such as dish washer, restaurant staff to learn more practical knowledge that are beyond their education at high school. As a result, these practices can help high school graduates identify their career path in a better way and they can have a thorough insight into their future jobs.
On the other hand, i would contend that the aforementioned benefits of having a one-year break pale in comparisons with the significant disadvantages of it. One major impact is that gap-year takers will fall behind in their study as well as facing peer pressure.This can be explained by the fact that many students find it extremely difficult to return to their study after a long break as they have forgot most of the things they have learnt in school. This could drain their self-confidence and make them feel insecure about their ability to continue to study in higher education. In addition to this, high school seniors are unlikely to save up a lot of money or cultivate any revelant job skills during their gap year. This is simply because most of the jobs available to high school leavers are mainly entry-level ones that are neither pay them well or teach them anything substantive. Take an example from working as a waiter, students will only get paid for 1 dollar per hour and this is not helpful for them at all if they want to save up some money. These actions can, consequently, take away their valuable time that they should spend studying in university instead.
In conclusion, while taking a gap year can be beneficial, i am convinced that the given disadvantages do not make it a worthwhile path.