Melek Gülmeral - 7

Many young people choose to take a year out between finishing school and starting university in order to gain work experience or to travel. The experience of non-academic life this offers benefits the individual when they return to education.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

It is quite common these days for young people who graduated from high school in many countries to take a breath before starting a new education marathone. The trend is not usual only among rich students who have the money to travel, but it is also common among poorer students who prefer to work in domestic or overseas areas. In my opinion, taking a gap year allows them to improve new skills and to prepare mentally for life.

In the social point of view, due to lack of perspective of life and instability in new generation, taking a year out is becoming a beneficial tendency. As a result of this trend, young adults can improve their social skills, independences, personal sources to focus on some subjects and deal with problems all of which may be very important factors in both academic education process and whole life time.

On the other hand, no doubt there exist some disadvantages of taking a year out before univercity. Young people who gain work experience may think that it is better to work in a particular job or to do something different from a university course. In addition, travelling during a year may lead to the feeling that it is hard to adapt to academic study and focus on some subjects.

To sum up, although there might be some disadvantages of taking a year off before univercity education, everybody knows that for a reasonable career, academic qualifications are required. In my opinion, it is the best way for youth to be independent and find their own ways that will make them motivated and effective persons with a clear perspective of knowledge of what to do and why to do.