Everyone’s different. For some people a gap year is a great idea; for some a terrible idea. For some it really doesn’t matter. Depends on finances, what kind of job there is to take, a lot of things.
Going directly into university after high school was one of the worst decisions of my life; I was not interested in university at all, in part because all my decisions were pointlessly rushed, and I was in the wrong school, in the wrong program. I’d have been way, way better off taking a year or two off to work. But I know people whose gap years turned into disaster, too.
On the flip side of that, my mother refused to let me take a gap year (which are pretty common in the UK). As a result, I didn’t want to be at Uni when I went, had no interest in what I was studying (I’d picked it on the grounds that I was being forced to pick something, not because I wanted to do any of it) and dropped out after one semester.
Instead of taking a year’s gap, it was nearly 2 decades later when I went back, but this time I want to go and it’s going pretty well, thanks.
I actually don’t regret it at all, but I probably wouldn’t recommend it. I suspect, as I would have been applying for deferred entry, that if I had been allowed to take the gap year I wanted, I would have stayed and likely graduated, but it was a lot harder to go back after dropping out (maybe more in the UK system).
I’ve known three kids who did this. All three sat around doing nothing until they were in an unbelievable funk they couldn’t get out of without professional help. One spent the time working up such a load of anxiety about college that I doubt she will ever go, which is a crying shame.
Trying to decide between college and trade school? Take a few college or trade school classes to see what it’s like. Or apprentice to the trade you are considering.
Thinking you want to just start working and earning some money? Then be looking for a job full time and reporting occasionally on your progress/attempts.
But don’t, don’t, don’t, let him sit around playing video games and eating cheetos. Endless Summer is not good for human beings.
As others have said, We are all different, & we all react differently to the same situation in life.
I encouraged my kids & I still encourage my grand kids to take some time off between HS & college. My youngest boy never did go to college & he is doing well. He is working as a construction supervisor.
I took 4 years off & it was the best decision for me. I did not lay around the house & goof off. I loaded my car up with all my worldly possessions on graduation day & after the ceremony, I fired that hot-rod up. I crossed the state line before midnight. I did not return for over three years.
Yeah, home life really sucked. It was no better when I returned, but now I knew that life does not need to be that way. I also knew it was them, & not me, that caused the problems.
I worked at many jobs for short bits because I wanted to educate myself about the world around me & how other folks lived their lives. I also wanted to decide what I wanted to do with my life. Not just what career I wanted, but also what kind of man I wanted to be. Between jobs I did a lot of reading, thinking, hiking, fishing, & other tourist type of things. I rode quite a few steam trains then. I still do, I just like them.
Did I want to be a Hippy? Redneck? Working man? Yes these two are different. “Professional”? I tried the “Office Life” there was just too much politics for this country kid. I tended to speak my mind without being concerned about what others think. I try to give folks some thought these days, but some days I just do not care.
I am fairly mechanically minded & I am a big dude, I sought out the tough jobs, partly to prove to myself that I am quite capable of taking care of any hard job that came my way. Also partly because they paid very well.
I have worked in the timber industry, the ranching and the farming industries, as well as all kinds of construction. I discovered that I enjoy the hard physical labor as long as I get to use my mind as well. I often ended up being the foreman because I chose to think about things.
In the end I decided to go back to school & get a degree in aviation maintenance. I was very motivated, as I knew what I was going to accomplish & how I was going to get to that goal. It helped that It was my money that was going to paying for it. I had a plan & I worked that plan. I earned an Airframe & Powerplant Mechanics, (an A&P), license issued by the FAA, as well as an AAS in aviation maintenance. This Has fed my family for over three decades now. Success.
When life allows, I am going back for a BS in both Mathematics & Mechanical Engineering. Life has been tough lately, so I am only taking one class this fall.
I have never been convinced that a college degree is needed in this world to get ahead. I have worked with many self-educated engineer. They are getting older & most of them have retired by now, but these folks know their stuff!
The bottom line is that these kids are adults now & it is time for them to make the decisions for their lives. The key here is to help them make good decisions & then to support them in their decision. I do not mean to pay for ones you think are bad, but to be there for them.
I’m not surprised most of them have retired. When I went to college, 50 years ago, there was a lot less to learn and while I got good basics in computer science and digital design it would probably be possible to pick it up in books with access to some mainframe to run programs. But we know a hell of a lot more now about how to program, and most engineering jobs would need training on sophisticated and expensive mathematical packages.
Anyone can write code on a PC today, and run it, but that doesn’t make you good.
Someone smart enough to self-educate could probably breeze through college.
Agreed – I know two people (my cousin, and a friend) who have had very successful careers in computer programming, despite neither of them finishing college. Both of them dropped out of college when part-time jobs in the industry quickly became full-time jobs, but for one of them, that was 1972, and for the other, that was 1985.
Even if a person was able to self-educate themselves in a technical field these days, they would probably never make it past the initial screening process. There are far too many jobs for which a bachelor’s degree has become table stakes to simply be considered, even jobs that wouldn’t have required a degree a couple of decades ago. In answer to 48Willys, I agree, a college degree shouldn’t be required to get ahead, but hiring practices have changed dramatically.
FWIW, it sounds like 48Willys graduated from high school decades ago (as he notes that he has advised both his children, and his grandchildren, to take time off between high school and college). While he clearly took charge of his own destiny and future (which is absolutely admirable), the avenues that he used to find jobs back then may well not be particularly relevant to an 18 year old today, and the sorts of jobs he found may not exist anymore, or may not be open to someone without a degree.
San son #3 got a summer job where I work last year after graduating high school. End of summer he wasn’t sure of what or where he wanted school so he went full time at work. I advised him that since the economy was really good and he was earning 3X minimum wage with full benefits, school could wait until the economy sinks and/or he knows what and where to go to school. He is working now on changing his shift so that he can work and do school starting next semester. He chose to go into an automation repair program that one of the tradesman said he had a degree in. (Somebody has to fix Amazon’s robotic warehouses.) 3-4 years of part time schooling plus working full time and he’ll have a degree and school mostly paid for. Near the end, he should be able to get into the maintenance dept and get his employer to pick up the tab for the last bit. His chosen career path was not an idea to him before he took time off.
Well, the first one I found while I was camping out & fishing all day long. The camper next to me & I were just chatting one night & the subject of my employment, or lack therein, came up. It turns out that he was a business owner who needed a short term employee to help him clean up his warehouse.
During that job, I was camping out in the sticks on an abandoned farm & coming into town for work. One Sunday morning I was not feeling the need to cook my own breakfast, so I went to the local mom & pop cafe for some grub & coffee. The owner walked up to my table & asked if he could sit for a bit. Living alone like I was made me willing to chat with random strangers, so I invited him to “grab a saddle”. We talked about everything under the sun. It was a slow day for him. He offered me a job as his morning “Pearl Diver”, dishwasher to most folks. I accepted the job on the condition that I would leave his store at noon, go work my original job then come back for four hours & wash the dinner dishes when I got off from the first job.
After eight weeks the first job ended, I had cleaned out two warehouses, one two car garage, & one two room cabin. He told me to use him as a reference.
Two weeks after that while eating breakfast at the diner, an acquaintance from back home who knew that I came from a logging family asked me if I wanted to “work in the woods” with him & his crew. The job would only last three weeks at best. Some of his crew wanted time off for hunting season. I would sub in for each one as that fellow went hunting. When that fellow came back, I subbed in for the next hunter. He finally laid me off after three months. The snow was too deep.
BTW, the cafe owner hired my back on a few times as I had given him a one week notice. I think that I worked for him six or seven times.
I was happy to get the pink slip as I had a big wad of cash & I wanted to goof off for a while. So I went down to the beach & did some beach-combing. I was camping out on the beach.
About two months later my hot rod needed some major engine work, & I had no place to work on it. So I rented a cabin one block from the ocean, it came with a one car garage. I pulled the engine apart & carried the heads to the machine shop six blocks away for new valves & some other machine work. While waiting my turn at the counter, I noticed that the machinist needed some help unloading an engine block from the back of a customers pickup. I wandered over to the loading dock & lifted it out of the pickup bed & placed it onto the cart that was waiting for it. Then I started to unload the rest of the engine. The Machinist meanwhile had helped the customer fill out a work request form. I was offered a part time job then & there. I told him I was on vacation & was not looking for work. He said when I wanted to work to come back & see him.
A few weeks later, I took him up on the job offer. The service station down the road a block away had a help wanted sign in the office window. So, to fill up some of my free time, I applied for & got the part time job. I quit both of these jobs after three months just because the beach was getting too popular. There were so many folks walking on the beach that it was not fun anymore, besides I had a big wad of cash to spend.
I had sold my hot rod for more money than I thought it was worth, so I needed some wheels. I had always wanted a motorcycle, so I bought my first Triumph. I rode that up into B.C. Canada, & hiked part of the Pacific Crest Trail. My bike was in storage & I was wandering in the cascade mountains. I had a blast!
To sum all this up most of my jobs came from word of mouth, or I would walk into a shop or store & ask what kinds of employment they had. If they did not have any need for help, they almost always knew of someone else who did. If I could not find any jobs in that area, I would fire the Triumph up & head to a more favorable area. There were a few times that no work was to be had. Those times, I either bought cars &/or bikes to repair & resell, or I did some scrapping, which is hard to do on a motorcycle, or I worked the flea market circuit.
I did not have much in the way of expenses as I camped out a lot & the bike did not use much gasoline. The goal was to learn who & what I wanted to be, not to make a lot of dough. I am still in the process of becoming who & what I want to be. As for the money, it is just a tool, a means to an end as it were.
I believe that if the job is just a means to an end & the money is not all that important, there are still plenty of jobs out there. Finding the first job may be tricky, but if one shows up to work on time, sober, & ready to work, the others will fall into place. The first one will often lead to the next & so on. There is no need for any schooling for many of these jobs. In most cases, a degree is not a plus to the folks hiring for dishwashers, maids, brick layers, roofers, nor janitors. All of these are jobs that I have held at one time or another.
My son, the elevator installer/mechanic, makes more money than most of his friends who do have at least a BS, & yet he has no degree except his high school degree which his boss has never asked for. He got this job much like I got my first job.