First-year students are experiencing significant challenges with their writing skills. This was recently revealed by a Cito language test, the results of which were shocking. Remarkably, 85% of former pre-vocational secondary education (VMBO) students failed a test at the level of their first year of higher education. For former senior general secondary education (HAVO) and pre-university education (VWO) students, these failure rates were 67% and 22%, respectively. According to the HBO Council (Higher Professional Education Council), the language skills of current secondary school students, who will soon begin their HBO (higher professional education) studies, are inadequate. They advocate for a gap year in which secondary school students learn to read and write adequately before starting their HBO (higher professional education) programs. Preventing this problem seems essential.