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Gap year

In some countries young people are encouraged to work or travel for a year between finishing high school and starting university studies.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages for young people who decide to do this.

Many young individuals in recent years are incentivized to take a gap year after accomplishing high school. Although this propensity can help students in becoming more financially independent and self-aware, it can depress their job opportunities and increase the likelihood of them dropping out of university. 

Students partaking in either a part-time or full-time job during this period can gain financial freedom to an extent. The salaries earned from working will allow these individuals to at least take care of their personal daily living expenses and therefore place much less reliance and financial pressure on their parents. A pertinent example of this is that gap-year takers often display a higher level of self-dependence as they are typically able to single-handedly pay for their university tuition fees. Furthermore, some students can even benefit from having a better sense of direction in life. A one-year break can engender a better understanding of themselves and in turn make more informed decisions concerning their future goals, aiding their chances of success later in life. Those who carefully considered their options are more likely to find their passions ,and report a higher level of satisfaction as a result.

Detractors of this idea can point to the lost job opportunities. Delaying university studies naturally leads to significantly lower chances of finding a decent job when most of the other peers have already graduated and gained prior work experience. This can be perfectly exemplified as employers usually disqualify candidates with limited experience. Another disadvantage of this relates to a higher possibility of permanently dropping out of university. There is a strong likelihood that these individuals will become accustomed to this new lifestyle, which makes continuing tertiary education challenging for them. Many gap-year takers have become acquainted with a carefree life traveling to various places and decided to never return to their universities.    

In conclusion, even though a one-year break promotes self-understanding and maturity, it also hinders career advancement and reduces ones’ motivation to pursue higher studies. 

Words: 329

Vocabularies:

Incentivized khuyến khích 

Accomplish hoàn thành 

Financially independent độc lập tài chính 

Self-aware nhận thức về bản thân 

Depress their job opportunities làm giảm cơ hội việc làm 

Likelihood khả năng

Partaking in tham gia vào

Financial freedom tự do tài chính

To an extent tới một mức độ nhất định 

At least ít nhất

Daily living expenses chi phí sống hằng ngày

Place đặt

Reliance sự phụ thuộc 

Financial pressure áp lực tài chính 

Pertinent liên quan 

Gap-year takers người thực hiện việc gap year

Display thể hiện

Self-dependence sự độc lập 

Typically thường

Single-handedly tự mình

Tuition fees tiền học phí 

Benefit from có lợi từ 

Have a better sense of direction có định hướng tốt hơn

Break nghỉ ngơi

Engender tạo ra

In turn vì vậy 

Informed decisions quyết định có hiểu biết

Concerning về 

Aiding their chances gia tăng cơ hội

Consider cân nhắc kỹ lưỡng

Passions niềm đam mê

Satisfaction sự thỏa mãn

Detractors người phản đối

Point to chỉ ra

Significantly lower chances cơ hội thấp hơn đáng kể 

Decent job công việc khá khẩm

Peers bạn bè đồng trang lứa

Exemplified ví dụ

Disqualify loại 

Candidates ứng cử viên

Limited giới hạn

Permanently vĩnh viễn

Strong likelihood khả năng cao 

Become accustomed to / Become acquainted to trở nên quen thuộc với

Carefree vô tư

Self-understanding sự thấu hiểu bản thân

Maturity sự trưởng thành

Hinders cản trở 

Career advancement sự tiến triển trong nghề nghiệp 

Motivation động lực 

Pursue theo đuổi