So I get that these days everyone "needs" to go to college if they expect to do anything in their life. Unless they want to work at Burger King or McDonald's or something, and even then I feel like you need a BA in something to do that. Well that's all well and fine, but then we (the students) should be able to take a break, and I don't mean the "month" if intersession between semesters. I mean like take a year off to do whatever it is you want to do, find yourself, backpack, even live somewhere else for that year. Think about it. From the time you are 4, maybe even 3 if you go to nursery school, you are going to school for 10 months out of the year! NON-STOP! The system makes you take the same classes over and over again, especially when it comes to high school and college, and then you're expected to know what to do with the rest of your life. People make it sound so easy for students to study abroad. But if you don't have the money, you're not going. So, there goes the getting out of a classroom experience.
Now, I know what you're thinking. Students do have options. One, loans are crap. Because long after your experience is over, you will still be paying it off. Also, guess what, not all students have the luxury of taking some time off.
I have Juvenile Diabetes. I was diagnosed at 4 1/2 and have been on insulin injections for 15 years. I am covered under my parents' medical plans until I am 25, which is even longer than "normal" kids. But the second I even become a part time student (much less take a break) I loose that coverage and I have to either try and find a full time job that will take me without college (even though i would go back to school) and then pay hundreds of dollars in fees and co pays.
I do not understand it. Not one bit. If you are not in "perfect" health or rich, you are trapt in the system that society has created, which is not the best one, or even a very good one at that.
