Some students take one year off between finishing school and going to university, in order to travel or to work. Do you think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

Recently, worn-out high school seniors are getting fresh encouragement from a range of sources to take a break — a "gap year" — before plunging into college. But gap years are not for everyone.

Between school or college and university is a good time to take time out, whether it is to earn some money for studies, get experience, travel around the world or volunteer. Some of the advantages involve reviving students’ enthusiasm for learning through time off after several years in school and discerning their interests more clearly before entering a college-level program of study. Additionally, all of these traditional gap year experiences contribute to development of life skills and organizational skills that employers find more attractive in a job candidate than they do in someone with an exclusively academic background. Moreover, community service or travel can also give adolescents greater insights into other cultures and into economic, social and global concerns. Employers also find this kind of expanded cultural awareness attractive because it plays an important role in fostering diversity within the workplace.

While there are benefits of taking a year off, students who choose to take the year off have some disadvantages compared to their college-bound peers. To travel or take part in an organized gap year programme could be expensive. Not all the students can afford that. Besides, the major drawback may be that young people can be difficult to get motivated for a return to school after a year and to get comfortable in the classroom once they do. Resuming education after a gap year involves lack of access to advisers from high school to assist gappers with curriculum planning. There is also a possibility that a year off will turn into years off or that students will never pursue college due to changes or distractions that occur during the gap year.

To sum up, the experiences from gap years can make a better preparation for university, both academically and socially. Regardless of the potential advantages of a gap year, youngsters will derive the most benefit from such a break in schooling through good planning. So just plan it, do it as a deferral to college, have a goal and then go for it.