system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Most High School graduates should not go to college immediately.

I feel pretty strongly about this for quite a number of reasons related to maturity and responsibility. 

First of all, most high school graduates are 18 when they get their diploma so there isn't much of a maturity gap between 18-21. But from 21-25 its a different story:

Generally, the human brain reaches full development at 25 years old. That's when you truly start thinking like an adult. You are more patient, you are more insightful and you apply logic to more things. 

My second point for this gap is that most of the time when college kids are studying, yes they do work and study but they generally have their parents' support. Sometimes they live with their parents, other times their parents get them a car, whatever the case may be the parents are usually right behind them and they don't achieve true independence until they graduate. 

Once they graduate they have their degree, sure, but they might not have much real-world experience handling the following:

- Paying bills or risk sleeping in the streets.

- Paying a car or risk having it repoed and ruining their credit then sued for the difference after the bank sells the car.

- Paying car insurance or risk getting their license suspended.

- Paying for health insurance, either at work or as a standalone health plan.

- Paying for their phone or risk losing communication. 

- Staying on good terms with co-workers and management in order to protect their career path and reputation. 

- Creating and maintaining a social life outside of work and college, which can be a lot of work, especially if you're not a social butterfly.

- Dealing with shitty roommates, landlords and strangers you need to put up with. 

The list goes on and on and that's assuming you're single with no kids. Most of these things are not taught in college but are essential for living in the real world.

I think high school graduates need some real-world exposure first before actually attempting college, otherwise there is a chance they throw their parents' money away. I'm not saying all of them are like that but I think it would do them some good to learn responsibility before making an attempt at education. 

I also think parents tend to pressure their kids to go straight to college but I think that's the wrong way to do it. I also disagree that you should always follow your passions in order to study but that leaves kids confused as to what they want in life by the giving them the expectation that they should already know that or that pursuing your passion is key to success. 

There have been people out there who did know what they want and pursued it but made it nowhere. Mixing work with passion is not the way. And that's because work is work and life is life.

In life you have your hobbies, interests, social circle, taste, etc. But at work you're just an employee for a company trying to meet company goals in a competitive market, nothing more. 

Honestly, I think a lot of high school kids are confused because of the pressure their parents put on them.
gpt
That's very nice in theory, but consider a few things:

Youth unemployment can easily go beyond 50%. If you parents can not sustain you, your are likely to spend a year or two doing nothing if you happen to live anywhere in S.Europe.

Countries, like Portugal, have a validity on your exams. If you take a gap year, your grades will be null and void and you have to retake your exams to apply to university.

Entrance into university is not guaranteed. Failing to apply means you loose a chance to enrol in a free public school - and again, you can't count on your grades being there next year, because you may have to redo exams. If you are not rich to afford private university this may mean having to forgo university altogether - furthermore private school are often of lower quality and have worst reputation \[there are exceptions, of course, this is just the norm\].

Finally scholarship, specially public ones, are afforded based on your grades. If you take a gap year, you have no grades to show, so no scholarship for your first year. And as having had scholarship a previous year increases the likelihood you get it this year, it's a double whammy.

A gap year is great IF you have "magic money from the sky" \[i.e. rich parents\] to pay for your " hobbies, interests, social circle, taste, etc." or can find a job of some sort \[basically, again, family and nepotism\]. But in practical reality either you are lucky to live in a fairly rich place, with a system that is made for such luxuries, or a gap year is a bad idea.