Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? After completing high school, students should take at least a year off to work or travel before they begin studying at a university. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

One of the most cardinal decisions which students should make is the decision about what they should do after finishing high school. To be more specific, which university they should go to or what major they should study are among the decisions that can affect students' future drastically. Although some students think it is better to take at least a year off before starting a university education, others believe otherwise. I personally subscribe to the latter opinion on the ground, which will be explained in the upcoming paragraphs. To begin with, to be successful in university, students need to stay focused and work as hard as possible to be knowledgeable enough to be an expert in their field in the future. This is so important because nowadays, most companies are looking for skillful and adept workers who have deep academic knowledge. Students who take exams such as SAT in the United States or "Konkour," a national-wide exam for entrance to universities in Iran, are more involved in the study atmosphere, so it is more likely to perform better than students who take gap years. For example, many students who plan to study after some years of working get busy with work, and because they earn enough money to live, they give up the idea of studying and keep working. So by going to university after high school, not only are students more focused and prepared to study, but they can also avoid the harmful effect of gap years, such as forsaking their university education. Furthermore, in my opinion, life is like a racing competition; as a result, the sooner you get your place, the more successful you are. Usually, the eventual goal of most students is to be in a social position that provides them with good earnings and social respect. Going to university will page students' waves toward an honorable future with a prosperous career. Students who go to university right after high school can expand their network earlier, and after graduation, they are 22 or 23 years old people with deep knowledge and a vast network, culminating in good job opportunities. So, those students can start to build their own life and family earlier than those students who take gap years. To sum up, I believe that students should start their university education right after finishing high school because first, they are more focused and ready at the time to pursue their studies, and second, by doing that, they can start to work and settle down earlier.