Debate For or Against the “Gap Year”
After students graduate from high schools, some prefer joining colleges immediately while others decide to take a year off. This year off is referred to as a “gap year,” and has raised many debates with people discussing the merits and demerits of taking the gap year. The supporters of the gap year argue that this time is so essential in giving students time to mature and make decisions on what they want to do in their education. They also add that this time is much important as it gives students a chance to travel and save money for college. However, another group is much against the gap year; they argue that this gap year may make students troubled getting back to the academic system and in most cases lie behind their classmates who did not take the gap year. This essay is a discussion for or against taking a year off before joining college.
Every activity done in life has its advantages and disadvantages. The same way does the gap year on a student’s academic life. After conducting the research the following stood out as the pros or the advantages of taking the gap year (Huston et al. 4). The year provides the students with a chance to pursue other passions and therefore an opportunity to reflect on what the student could love doing, and sometimes establish the right path to follow. Moreover, this time can be utilized in gathering money resources that can be used in paying for some college or university dues. More importantly, this time helps high school graduates get some life experiences and much better prepared for college life as well as abilities to live independently. Also, this can be the time to build one's CV depending on how this time is spent, more appealing is when this time is used in gaining work experiences or volunteer tasks, this is what impresses most of the employers (Lyons et al. 361).
However, this year can be miss-utilized and therefore, disadvantage the student. Sometimes the gap year could have also been fully maximized on, but still, disfavor the student academically. Below are some of the cons that are associated with the gap year, the most common disadvantage is the risk of losing academic momentum completely (Coetzee and Bester 608). The student may take much time to get back to the education phase. Additionally, there are risks of wasting much valuable time, especially when this time is not well planned for or when the decision for taking the break was not informed enough. In addition, having no impact on the CV and then later live a regretful life as other classmates are far ahead of yourself.
Bearing in mind the advantages associated with the gap year I would go for it. The pros that come up with the gap year are so many and much beneficial to the student for one to just rush and join the colleges or universities (Venezia and Jaeger 117). The gap year is part of the development of students to first understand what kind of student are you and what would you like to pursue in the academic field. Rushed decisions on education might make students do courses that do not suit their interests and sometimes quit the course after a year or so. This is followed by a change in course and therefore a waste of more time and resources. The gap year gives adequate time to plan and pull out necessary resources that the student would need during their college life and therefore much success at the end of it all.
Generally, a gap year influences academic performance. The influence depends on how the student copes up with this time. It is also true that students and their backgrounds are different, which makes some of them benefit from the gap year and others disadvantaged. We can, therefore, argue that the gap year is neither good nor bad, but depends on how the students utilize it. I would, therefore, advise all students that in future, before deciding to take a year off before joining the college it is important to weigh out the advantages and disadvantages that they might come across, after which they can decide to join immediately or wait to join a year later.
Work Cited
Coetzee, Melinde, and Suzanne Bester. "The possible value of a gap year: A case study." South African Journal of Higher Education 23.3 (2009): 608-623.
Huston, Mike, et al. "The Gap Year Dilemma: When a Purposeful Gap Year is the Answer to Career Unpreparedness." Canadian Journal of Career Development 16.1 (2017): 4-15.
Lyons, Kevin, et al. "Gap year volunteer tourism: Myths of global citizenship?." Annals of tourism research 39.1 (2012): 361-378.
Venezia, Andrea, and Laura Jaeger. "Transitions from high school to college." The future of children (2013): 117-136.
