Extracurriculars Boost High School

When a student is in school, the options for what the student can do in their free time can impact them for the rest of their life. The choices to partake in an extracurricular activity, such as a sport could benefit one in many ways. They can create core values inside a person which then impacts other aspects of their life as well. Sports are able to give one a standard for the way their life should be spent. The ways a sport could influence a person are seen in The Other Wes Moore, giving both sides of the spectrum.

In the United States, 57 percent of high school students participate in at least one kind of extracurricular activity (Bureau UC). Through extracurricular activities, youth have opportunities to develop very important life skills. Through participating in an activity that requires time outside of the normal school hours, students can learn to manage their time more efficiently. They must also develop rigorous study habits to perform well in the classroom as well as in their chosen activity or activities. Through team oriented activities and clubs, students must learn to work with others and attain interpersonal skills, along with a solid work ethic. Such activities provide a different type of environment than the classroom provides, and help them to become comfortable in various situations. There are many proven benefits when teens participate in extracurricular activities; such benefits include improved physical well-being, higher self-esteem, academic excellence, important social skills, and preparation to succeed not only school, but other settings as well.

Participation can make someone feel more fulfilled in life and can increase their self-esteem by making them feel more capable in the act of doing (Law, 2002, p. 640). In general, participation in extracurricular activities outside of work or school increases quality of life for both children and adults. When children participate in sports or clubs, their risk of smoking, low self-esteem and having difficulty making friends decreases. Adults that volunteer or participate in recreational activities are proven by research to live longer and have higher quality of life. (Law, 2002, p. 641) Speaking from experience, as a freshman in college during my undergrad, all I did was study – I didn’t attempt to make friends or participate in any organizations. As one can image, I can’t say I was experiencing a high quality of life because I needed to be engaging in activities with

Although many theorists criticize that the extracurricular activities takes valuable time from the family, relaxation and leisure time, especially sport participation requires more and more time due to its increase in competiveness and amount of practice (Melman et al., 2008; Shaw et al., 1996 in Fredericks, 2012). In Fredericks study (2012), the unique time requirement in sports participation is explained as an enforcer to develop even stronger relationships, better refinement of the skills and most importantly more conscientiousness. The media concentrates on the highly involved students, which make approximately 3-6% of the entire high school student body, that clock in over 20 h per week, whereas the average of students participates 7-8 h per week in afterschool program, which means they stay for less then 1.5 h more after school (Fredericks, 2012). Paradoxically, according to Mahoney et al. (2006 in Fredericks, 2012) actually the most involved students, at least 20 h/per week, showed better capability in adjusting to the academically and psychological demands. These results are only applicable to a very few amount of students and not to the majority of the American population.

If a researcher wants to determine if a student who participated in extra-curricular activities in high school will have higher grades in college than a student who didn’t, they could see the cause and effect that extra-curricular activities has on a student’s college studies.

Since Early College High School was founded in the year 2006, the school and its students have always been at disadvantage. The school has lacked several opportunities such sports, scholarship opportunities, etc. However, a topic that has been the spotlight of discussion amongst students over the course of eleven years has been the lack of extracurricular activities. This problem does not only affect students, but it rather affects faculty members as well. Although there has been a slow but gradual increase in solving this problem, this change has come forth at a lengthy rate. It has been 11 years since change has been prompted, and although the current students are benefiting from this change, there have been several generations of

He quotes Gerald Bracey’s protestation that “The American vision of teenagerdom includes dating , malls, cars, jobs, and extracurricular activities” (94). Chase defines extracurricular activities equivalently as teenagers dating, going to the malls, caring about their cars, and doing fast-food jobs. However, extracurricular activities should not only be categorized as the quote says; it also can express as science clubs and volunteering. In addition, extracurricular activities are important to students on learning team skills, leadership skills, internship skills, and social skills because many jobs also need these abilities even though they only ask for high level of education. For example, if someone is doing business, they will need leadership, social, and team skills so that they could work with other works and negotiate with other companies. Therefore, after-school activities can help students to prepare their career after they graduate from high school. Extracurricular activities are important, provided students can learn extra and necessary skills from

However, extracurricular activities can also be a strain on your life. Getting into college is so competitive recently, leading to high schoolers will doing everything they can to better their chances of being accepted including more and more extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities are anything outside of mandatory schooling, this includes clubs, sports, and religious life. Even though extracurricular activities are almost required to be viewed as a well rounded student, the time and requirements of college applications and scholarships can be hard to manage. Adolescents who do extracurricular activities tend to never be fully committed to their school work. Let's take Patricia for example, Patricia is an AP student, HOSA member, Beta member, and student-athlete. Patricia will not be fully committed to her studies, her clubs, or her sport because she does not have enough time to excel in everything. All of these extracurricular activities that Patricia is involved in are stressing her out. This stress can allow Patricia to engage in negligent decisions that will result in her not being able to participate in any of these

The school rule “students must partake in extracurricular activity” is a significant disturbance to students whom are in their final year of secondary education. Extracurricular activities such as sports day and compulsory sport for the school produces an inconvenience to senior students whom have hoards of assignments to complete and tests to revise for. A better alternative to this rule would be to provide senior students the option of partaking in extracurricular activities if they wish to do so. This provides senior students with hours of extra free time in which they will be able to complete assignments and study for tests. In addition, the work load in year 12 is already a struggle for students to juggle and the addition of extracurricular

The combination of academics, athletic activities, and extracurricular activities has played an enormous role on my own highschool experience. Now, I cannot say it was all butterlies and rainbows, but also seemed to torment my everyday life.

The recent Great Recession has caused many lower and middle income families to have problems with their children graduating and having academic achievement. More funding is going towards academic achievement in lower income schools rather than dividing it up among extracurricular activities like clubs, art programs, and all athletic programs. With more and more pressure going towards test scores and graduation rates, athletic funding is dwindling at rates higher than ever seen before as the funding is going towards improvement in the classroom (“Elliot”). Extracurriculars are beneficial to the student as they keep them out of trouble and students are able to form new friendships while demonstrating their passion or ability (“Smith”).

It is important for adolescents to participate in extracurricular activities. Student who participate in these activities improve their academic scores and social life. Extracurricular activities can also help reduce many peer pressure related problems. “They enrich the lives of the students, their families and our communities. These activities create well rounded children who learn what their interests and talents are because they have been exposed to such opportunities” (Extracurricular Activities, Blogadmin). For most adolescents extracurricular activities should be required among what they do outside of school.

Kikimo Fujita “The Effects of Extracurricular Activities on the Academic Performance of Junior High School Students”

Have you ever felt like that one kid who just doesn’t do anything? The kid that was in just one extracurricular and a lame one at that. Well, that was me until fifth grade. I joined girl scouts when I was in kindergarten. I enjoyed it and made new friends, but suddenly, our leaders kept leaving. We got new leaders yearly until Katie's mom decided to stick with us. I had been liking it so far, but then in fifth grade, everything changed. When I was in fifth grade, I wasn’t really friends with anyone. The only people I knew was this guy I PREVIOUSLY had a crush on and Myra. I only knew Myra a little bit because we talked a minuscule amount in fourth grade. When the year started out, I had to make new friends. I also wanted to try a sport that year instead of just girl scouts. I talked to a few people and narrowed my choices down to either skating or basketball. I am the cheap kid in the family, so when I compared prices, I immediately went with basketball. Once I decided on basketball, I realized I had missed the sign-ups. I was freaking out because I really wanted to play, but I thought I had missed my chance. Bali and Olga, the two people who convinced me to join in the first place, reassured me that it would be ok and I would get to play.

Programs that go beyond the classroom are designed to enrich the lives of students across the globe. "They enrich the lives of the student, their families and our communities. These activities create well rounded children who learn what their interests and talents are because they have been exposed to such opportunities."(Extracurricular activities, Anonymous) Parents tend to push their child to study more when in fact, they should encourage their child to involve themselves in activities beyond a daily study session with their textbook. While focusing on studies inside of the classroom is important, participating in groups outside of the classroom is vital. After school programs promote the social skills of adolescents, good grades and behavior, self-esteem, discipline, and an overall positive outlook on life and what the future may hold. Although extracurricular activities are great, they also hold some downsides, such as putting extra frustration on the student, stress, and financial barriers.