The Audience
The audience for this augmentative essay are Sanchez and Savanna who are freshman and dental hygienist (bachelor's degree-holder) respectively. Sanchez is a Muslim within an age bracket of 19-21 years, lives in a hostel which is close to the college where we study and depends on his parents for financial support. On the other hand, Savana's age ranges between 30-40 years and he is a middle income-earner. The audience above are supporters of Democratic Party and have interests in changing the norms in society hence they suffer from biases such as political stances of the democrat politicians. Sanchez (an African American) and Savanna (white) decided to venture their career fields due to the need for a high quick employment and need for high incomes respectively.
Introduction
Students in various regions have resorted to taking some period out of school they join colleges or universities, and the strategy of taking a year off the education system has led to numerous debates from scholars and politicians. In the contemporary society, students should not take a gap year because the delayed learners have dismal rate of degree completion, they also lose momentum doing school coursework daily, and finally, students can discover what field they want to work in through experience in college coursework.
Body
A majority of learners who opt to take a gap year have low momentum of doing coursework hence perform poorly in their examinations. According to Bone and Reid (103), lectures are necessary for colleges but are not compulsory and students can choose to attend classes or not regarding their levels of motivation. Consequently, gap-takers who lose classroom experience and grossly engage in non-academic activities will skip lectures or fail to read their notes. In educational program, motivation is vital for a remarkable performance in tests; however, gap year makes students lose the concepts that they learnt in high school hence contribute to development of negative attitude towards learning. Through consistency in learning, non-gapers develop a positive perception towards education compared to the gap-takers who suffer disruptions from the activities that they undertake while they are not in the educational programs.
Students should not take a gap year because the strategy leads to low rate of degree completion unlike their counterparts who go straight to the university after completing high school. The decision to go for a gap year makes learners miss an academic year as they engage in activities that do not relate to educational programs thereby resulting in delays thus elongating a period one takes in school. The low graduation rates among gap-takers are determinantal to their welfare because it limits their ability to get into the job markets and start seeking employment (Curtis 113). For instance, gappers in engineering faculty will get part-time jobs because they shall not have completed their college studies whereas non-gappers will have permanent jobs. Therefore, gap-takers are likely to be at a disadvantage in engaging in social activities since they have to continue their educational programs before indulging in other activities such as marriage. A decline in rates of degree completion among gap-takers also results from their poor performance in classroom activities.
The gap year that learners take before joining colleges when they complete high school also contributes to low rates of degree completion thus suffer emotionally or economically due to a prolonged stay in learning institutions. According to (Curtis 111), some of the learners who take a year out engage in pleasurable activities such as trips to different parts of the world or get temporary employment and get some money or rewards. Consequently, the gap-takers change their perceptions towards life and education programs and hence resort not to enroll for colleges. Furthermore, gap-takers are prone to accidents which will lead to their death or injuries thus bar them from resuming their studies. For instance, students who take a year off can get jobs such as paid-internship at dental clinics and decide not to enroll for university education due to a change in attitudes towards learning or staying a college without opportunities to go for trips.
Students can also properly discover the field they intend to work in through experiences that they gain from their college coursework. Through consistency in colleges, learners have opportunities to evaluate their abilities in pursuing specific studies because they can identify subjects in which they perform best hence choose courses concerning their competencies. Besides, learners who do not take gap years will not encounter challenges in making critical decisions because they will not have lost their ability to evaluate their situations and make sound judgment regarding activities they should do (Bone and Reid 104). An individual's decision to avoid taking a gap year is also essential in ensuring that properly advance vital skills that will enable them to be independent hence manage their lives without relying on professionals for assistance. For instance, a majority of gap-takers (working as interns in dental clinics) will depend on pieces of advice from dental hygienists to help them make decisions concerning career fields they should choose.
Some supporters of gap year argue that it (gap-taking) helps learners in exploring the labor market and make proper decisions regarding career fields that suits them (Curtis 113). Also, there are claims that gap year helps improve learners' academic performance hence high rates of degree completion. However, in contrast to claims above, gap years leads to students' low morale in learning due to forgetting of concepts they learn in class hence a significant decline in graduation rates among gap takers. Therefore, a gap year is not appropriate and adversely affect students' academic and ability to get jobs.
Conclusion
As discussed in this article, students should not take a gap year because the delayed learners have a lower rate of degree completion, they also lose momentum doing school coursework daily, and finally, students can discover what field they want to work in through experience in college coursework. Some of the factors that lead to a loss of commitment to classwork and low rates of degree completion include accidents that learners encounter during their gap years or a negative change in their attitude towards education. Furthermore, some scholars' claims that a gap year helps learners in course selection is not appropriate because students can properly choose their areas of specialization by evaluating their abilities concerning college coursework.
Works cited
Bone, Elisa and Robert Reid. “First Course at University: Assessing the Impact of Student Age, Nationality and Learning Style.” The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education 4.1 (2003):95, n/a. ProQuest.Web.25 Jul.2018
<https://fyhejournal.com/article/view/156/161>
Curtis, D. David. "The 'Gap Year' in Australia: Incidence, Participant Characteristics and Outcomes." Australian Economic Review, vol. 47, no. 1, Mar. 2014, pp. 107-114. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/1467-8462.12054. Print
