For a teenager, planning what to do after high school can be very difficult. Teenagers begin questioning whether they want to go straight into college or if they should take a year off, now it’s just the beginning of knowing what decisions should be made. Usually teenagers are not sure what careers they want to study, but don’t let that affect the decision of attending college right away. Once you attend, it will give you the chance of exploring what you like and what you don’t like. High school graduates should attend college right after high school because students end up forgetting the material they learned during high school, feeling education is not needed, and lose opportunities that they could have had as a high school graduate rather than an adult.

While it may seem to some taking a year off sounds great, it would be more likely for them to lose focus and it is actually true that young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer. Research spanning 100 years shows that students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation than they do on the same tests at the beginning of the summer, this information is found on National Summer Learning Association. Accordingly to the website, Think Stretch they have a article called “ What’s Summer Learning Loss?” it says that students lose about two months of grade level during summer break this is called “summer learning loss” or “summer brain drain.” In addition, NY Times wrote an article called “This Is Your Brain on Summer” by Jeff Smink and they said that there has been decades of research confirming summer learning loss is real. It says learning loss is increasing, summer after summer and how it has a tremendous impact on students’ success, including high school accomplishments, post-secondary education and work force preparedness. Generally, this is about summer break, but imagine what teenagers can forget in a year? If you didn’t go to college after high school how are you going remember all the material you need for college if summer break is two months and there is twelve months in a year.

Although many students want to find the fast way to earn money they don’t stop to think about there future. Our generation has the mentality of living in the present and wanting to see immediate results. Therefore, a teenager who skips a year will end up procrastinating because they will say “next year I’ll go to college” but once next year comes they suppress the idea because it does not fit in there agenda. Teenagers will question if college is really worth it? Students will ask why do they need a college degree if you can get a job without one? Well in an article called “Importance of College Education” it says High school graduates today are unable to obtain high-paying jobs that were once available. Also, it states that the U.S. has been transformed from a manufacturing-based economy to an economy based on knowledge, and the importance of a college education today can be compared to that of a high school education forty years ago. When I read this, it is very true; now our society is dependent on education where back then if you didn’t have a college degree you could obtain a career. As a result of this, high school students think if someone without an education can live successfully, so can they, which it is not true. Based on this data it shows that you need an education and students who end up taking a year off are more likely set college aside.

For example, on an article called “More High School Grads Decide College Isn’t Worth It” by Ben Casselman he says “High school graduates who skip college still face grim job prospects. The unemployment rate for recent grads who don’t attend college was 30.9 percent in October, the most recent month for which data is available – more than four times the rate for the population as a whole and up from about 20 percent in the years leading up to the recession.” In other words, if you don’t go to college it is unlikely for you to get a job.

For the most part, high school graduates have more opportunities than an adult. A high school student has the chance to apply for more scholarships, on the website scholarships.com they say it is the best time to find a scholarship since scholarships for high school students are the most common kind. Also many scholarship providers give big awards to students early on and possibly funding your education at your dream school. They say it is easier to get a scholarship for high school students because they are the most common and since it is there first time going to college. Meanwhile for an adult to get scholarships it is harder, on the same website it says it is harder for an adult because they are more likely to have other bills to worry about and it is harder to compete with a high school student. In the first place, adults will have more trouble than a high school student because they will have more responsibilities. All things considered high school graduates have more opportunities than an adult.

On the other hand some high school graduates do decide to take a year off because they want a break from school and want to explore the world. But if you go to college teenagers can explore differently they get the chance to meet new people, learn different things and still have fun. For the most part, during college teenagers get the chance to find themselves and they can look at life differently, that is why I recommend high school students to go right into college. They can have the experience and enjoy things that an adult couldn’t, such as going to college with your friends and being able to explore with them. In the long run teenagers will realize going to college right away will give you more benefits then going to college later.











Websites
http://www.collegeview.com/articles/article/importance-of-college-education
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/more-high-school-grads-decide-college-isnt-worth-it/