Quote:
Originally Posted by activeStick
Yup, it's an odd phenomenon of the west and seemingly supported by many. I've never understood it for the most part. If the year off is spent legitimately exploring potential career paths, then great. Not a fan however of 17 year old kids taking a year off to sit around at home doing nothing that relates to their future career plans or even worse, going on some backpacking expedition in Europe or SE Asia to discover themselves.
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I think you have this wrong. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to take time between high school and university. Some take the time to actually save money for university, which is very expensive. Some take the time off because they aren’t yet sure what they want to do, so instead of wasting money on a program they may switch out from later, they take the time before they start. Others use the time to travel or gain other valuable life experiences by interacting with other people, cultures, and getting a taste of life outside their possibly limited experience.
I think people who just take a year off to do absolutely nothing must be extremely rare, rich parents and no motivation. But everything else I listed is a worthwhile expenditure of your time. And many still simply don’t want to go university or into a trade, and find happiness working in retail or in odd jobs. Life for many people is about having enough.