Its funny how all at once a perspective can change. For me, it was at a regular school. That is, a regular school in Germany.

The German program I am a part of was visiting Germany for the summer and it was decided that we were going to visit a German school. We were going to follow around real German high school students for an entire day, attend their classes, and eat their lunch. 

School in the summer. Yay.

But, to my surprise, it turned out better than expected. At the beginning of the day I was partnered with a boy my age, a senior in high school. Of course our futures came up, and in choppy German I asked him what his plans were for next year, expecting him to answer with “I am attending a university next fall”; how all other seniors in high school answer the question. But, to my surprise, he answered with (in German of course) “I don’t know, maybe I’ll work next year”.

What?
You don’t know what you are going to do? You have not had your future planned since second grade? You’re not going to school next year...crazy boy.

But, upon further investigation, a significant number of students I spoke to didn’t automatically say they were going to university after graduating high school. I found out that is normal in Germany to take a gap year between high school and university to work or to ‘find yourself’.

Think about it, in America, we are expected to know what we want to do with the rest of our lives at 18 years old. That’s funny because all we have been doing our entire lives is studying-we don’t know what we want to do because we haven’t had a break from school to find out.

American high schoolers are programmed to think that college is the key to life. And it definitely can be a key, but there are so many other keys that can open our future. Go take a road trip around the Untied States or get a job, and figure out what your passionate about without the stress of school weighing you down. We live in a big world with endless opportunities. College is always going to be ready for you, but are you ready for college?

I learned that It is okay to take a year off, it’s working out for my German buddies, maybe it will work for you.