Taking A Year Off After High School

[fabz]

Lets start a debate with affirmative and negative points

Would you reccommend it?

[[Ned]]

I took a year off after highschool. That eventually lead to a 2nd year. Then a 3rd...... I graduated HS in 97, and I'm still working on my college diploma. I hope this helps.

With that being said I've been working full time the past 7 years. School was put on the backburner on a part time basis (night classes).

[MadCow]

There's not much to debate.

If you don't qualify for loans/OSAP and/or want to pay for your education yourself, then go ahead and take the year off to work and save up.

If you have the money and resources to go to school right away, and you want to go to school right away, then go to school.

[konfusion666]

IMO, if you're taking a year off to "find yourself", doing it after high school is the wrong time.

I find that people just aren't mature enough after high school to figure anything out. End result is a lot of wasted time.

After finishing university on the other hand... I think that's a great time to take a year off.

[najibs]

I'd recommend taking a year off if you're not totally sure what you want to do in life, otherwise if you have even a rough idea, I'd say not to take a year off. A year is a long long time.

[UrbanPoet]

dont do it... Even if u want some time to relax and figure things out you could always join an undecided degree program and take a lighter course load. This way you wont be totally wasting your time.

[[Ned]]

I think taking a year off is ok if you really are committed to going back to school after the one year. Not everyone can do it though.

[YnD]

If you're completely confused to what you want to do and your able to get an OK fulltime job (anything not fast food) then it may be worth. Otherwise your just waisting a year.

[dealguy2]

Sure helped me decide that I did indeed want to go to school and do something other than menial jobs. A year is nothing. At your age it seems like forever but as you get older a year feels like nothing. Just do something cool like go to Australia or teach english in Japan. Don't stay here and do some stupid McJob, you have the rest of your life for that crap.

[BadDrafter]

Unless you are going backpacking in some distant country, don't do it.

I double the warning if you come from a low income family.

[fabz]

Sure helped me decide that I did indeed want to go to school and do something other than menial jobs. A year is nothing. At your age it seems like forever but as you get older a year feels like nothing.

LOL

[fabz]

i dunno da whole thing is just overwhelmin i really am not sure if wat im going for is wat i reaaaaally wanna do

[dealguy2]

I can't stress my point enough. GET OUT OF DODGE FOR A WHILE. Do something that you will not be able to do again until you're at least 55 years old. Take the opportunity now before you start to build a career, a family and all that crap. Go overseas or something.

[Tiberius]

For 90% of people... it's a BAD idea...

Keep the momentum going in your life... you are in the learning and formative years... keep growing and learning and working towards a goal. Don't minimize the value of the life experience, friends, etc. that you will have in your college/university years. Honestly, high school is but a warm-up where you learn some basics of life... college or university is where you start to truly become an adult (for better or for worse... you learn a lot through mistakes and frivilous abuse of your newfound freedom).

Going to classes and passing tests so you can graduate is only part of the college/university experience. Delaying it means delaying your growth as a person... and the momentum loss can be - and often is - permanent!

Just my 2 cents... obviously there are some people for whom delaying or skipping post-secondary education works. They are usually people who really have a strong sense of purpose and direction in what they are going to be doing with their time though... not people who are lacking motivation and direction and are just hoping it will jump out and grab them.

Having said that... if you are truly clueless about what to do or take in post-secondary education... you risk going and flunking out due to a lack of focus and purpose there... so... I'm assuming you can decide on a post-secondary educational path - and the question is simply whether to delay going to school for a year.

[BadDrafter]

Delaying it means delaying your growth as a person... and the momentum loss can be - and often is - permanent!

Maybe 20 years ago or so a post secondary education wasn't the requirement that it is these days, but things have changed....... for the worse.

I learned firsthand how the disenfranchised live. Getting kicked about for a few years was not fun at all. Then I got an education, a college diploma. Soon I will be going back to get even further education. I am 24 right now so I am a little biased towards education.

If you have a strong family to go back to, there is nothing wrong with taking a year off. I know a few people who did that and survived, just know that you are playing with fire. Don't be surprised if you get burned. If you must 'get the hell out of dodge' go to a university away from your home town and leave it that.