High school students should take at least a year off to work or travel before they begin to study in university

Taking a gap year, a period of time when students can take a break from formal education, has become quite common. After weighing the pros and cons, I believe that it is advisable for high students to have a year off to work or travel. There are two reasons, which I will explain in the following essay.

Firstly, a gap year shades light on choosing future working-on field and life-long career. Most students do not know exactly what they want to do once they left high school or even half way through college. Working or travelling a year will give them some insights into their interests and strengths which will facilitate them choose a suitable career. Take my brother, Sebastian, for an example. Enjoying his gap year in Gansu Province, in China, he assisted the local people to plant trees which are a part of the windbreak against severe desertification. It was at that time that he realized the urgency for human beings to reconstruct natural environment. Afterwards, he decided to major in environmental science in Peking university and devote himself in environment protection. The valuable experience gained over the gap year enables my brother to seek for his dreamed initiative.

Secondly, students earn some money by taking part-time jobs to reduce financial stress on their families during a gap year. With the spiraling rents leaving many ordinary families with a few disposable incomes, let alone enough money to support their children to go on higher education in prestigious university. My personal experience is a compelling example of this. A few years ago, I was employed as a personal tutor for a well-off family to help their daughter prepare for the SAT. Due to my good command of knowledge and well-developed teaching skills, that girl earned satisfactory grades and I got enough money to pay my tuition without any worried about my following year in college.

Admittedly, students who drop a year are more likely to get unfamiliar with their study skills. During the gap year, there will be less chances for them to participate in actual classes and keep their study. Many study skills they gained at high school could not be used and developed, which leads directly to the deprivation of both academic ability and motivation. However, it won’t be a potential problem considering MOOC (abbreviation for Massive Open Online Courses) offered by top universities. Students can study any related topics online and get ready for college at any time.

In conclusion, I feel it a recommend choice for high school students to take a gap year to find out what they truly love and earn enough money for tuition fee.
{Is that too long? If it is, could mind delete some unnecessary sentences for me? I don’t think I can print them all in the real tset.}

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Hi Jhua, welcome to the forum. I thought your essay was very good. I really liked how you gave a possible counterargument but showed how it was not really important or relevant. Your writing is very clear with only a few awkward phrases or errors in usage. If you want to cut down your sentences, you could eliminate your third body paragraph, even though I really like it! Or you could reduce your examples a little bit, though I really liked how specific and personal they were. Here are some other suggestions:

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