Extracurricular Activities In Schools Essay

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.

When students participate in extracurricular activities they learn lessons and concepts of leadership, teamwork, organization, analytical thinking, problem solving, and time management. In high school if a student wants to do a sport or other activity they will pick the activity that they like and enjoy. This is the kind of decision making skill that could help determine the type of career path for a student. By participating in extracurricular activities youth can find something they enjoy learn to use this in a career. “Participating in certain extracurricular activities having to do with the field that the student is interested in could help them find a job. If someone is looking at a resume for a potential employee, and they see they have experience or interest in what they are looking for, they will be more likely to hire that person” (Massoni). Having been apart of a particular extracurricular activity can be a positive influence in a job resume. This will cause students to find a new ambition in a career. Even on college applications these activities will affect if a student will be accepted, and in some circumstances many activities can earn a student thousands of dollars in scholarships (Massoni). Extracurricular activities can benefit students in teaching them long term commitments. When youth participate in

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.

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.

College embodies a time where young adults explore both who they want to be and what they want to do. An important part of this journey is the involvement in extracurricular activities, such as athletics, Greek life, or academic clubs. In particular, athletic clubs can be overlooked by many students. To many, it is harder to join a sports club that seems to require certain skills to enjoy it or to feel apart of the community. This is why many shy away and choose to focus solely academics or join Greek Life because it seems easier to feel included in these. Yet, I think that athletics create a more well-rounded, more positive atmosphere than other clubs. Athletics offer a rich community based on teamwork and loyalty while developing life skills

If you asked my teachers about extracurriculars, they would say they take students’ time away from homework. If you asked me, I would say they keep students’ motivated in school and spark their interest. Almost anywhere you go, kids involved in sports are referred to as “student athletes.” Being a student should always come first, but athletics holds importance too. For many of us, sports are our whole lives. For me that is definitely true right now. Athletics have played a huge role in helping me develop through my adolescent life, but I am not sure they need to continue to play as large of a role going into my future.

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

I participate in multiple athletics and activities at Worland High School. Worland High School has a large array of extracurricular activities that they offer. From Key Club, to Football, to Debate, exedra. All these activities offer many opportunities for the students to participate in. There is a considerably large quantity of students at Worland High School who are involved in these extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities have a lot of benefits. I participate in extracurricular activities for many reasons , the three major ones are, they keep me busy, they are something that I love, and they keep me healthy.

Sport participation conveys a numerous of physical and psychological benefits. Student athletes are more likely to earn a college degree than those who did not play a sport. This is even true for students facing economic challenges to graduating college. Sport involvement, in addition to making college attendance more likely, correlated with greater levels of overall extracurricular and community involvement (truesport). They can gain confidence and self-esteem through participation in a sport. A positive team sport experience may diminish the risks of

That said, I do think some things should be changed. I think college’s costs and the way they're paid for need to be changed, because I don't think money should be a barrier to a college education for ANYONE. And I don't think extracurricular activities should be as important in the admissions process as they

Although extracurricular activities can help improve students’ academics, they can also have a bad effect on how grades turn out. Extracurricular activities take time, and this can affect on how much time the student has to complete home work or study (Wells). This can lead to a student doing poorly on tests and in the big run, failing the class which will hurt the student college applications. If a student that is involved in a sport is badly injured, this can affect the student because he or she is missing school, and then all the work that is missed will have to be made up. Stress is also a big factor that is put together with extracurricular activities. Stress can affect how the child does in school; if a student is stressed out, they can get sick. Being sick requires the child to stay home and then they will

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

“For over a century proponents have argued that youth activities, such as sports, arts groups, and organizations provide a rich context for positive development … What is missing, however, is research on the processes whereby development occurs in these activities” (Dworkin, Larson, and Hansen, 2003). Extracurricular activities are something that every student in high school are encouraged to participate in these activities for a multitude of reasons. Some of the benefits they are told about is that it will look good for college applications or that employers like to see you do other activities instead of just working. Some of the things they aren’t told however is how these activities benefit them in terms for their development and Waterman suggested that adolescents try different activities as a process for identity exploration. Erikson purposed his theory of the development of human beings in different stages and a task that must be completed at each stage in order to move on to the next stage. One of the stages that is in his theory is that at the adolescent stage the person goes through a challenge of identity versus identity confusion (Waterman, 1982). Alongside identity the concept and importance of self-worth for adolescents will be explained. To first understand Erikson’s theory of development there are a few definitions that will need to be discussed before a deep understanding can be reached. After the definitions are known the process of how adolescence progress

Extracurricular activities can help students by helping them learn how to manage time more efficiently and improve academics. Students learn how to balance their activities and school work appropriately, this helps the student get their homework done on time and limit procrastination (Jackson). With less time to do homework, students work more efficiently, this limits those late night homework sessions, because students will make sure their work is done. When participating in an extracurricular activity, students might find that they have less time to work, so to compensate they plan out when they will complete their homework, showing responsibility, and time management (Why Extracurricular). Responsibility and good time management are beneficial because it shows that you know how to manage your time to complete things before they are due. According to Nicole Jackson, “Studies have shown that students who participate in co-curricular activities have a marked improvement in the grades. This can be attributed

In high school there are extracurricular activities and clubs that educators and parents feel offer many benefits to students. In contrary to this I do not believe that the school should make students participate in afterschool activities against their will. Reasonings for this are: Many students have work outside of school and have no time, Many students play sports which is already considered an extracurricular activity, some students will resent extracurricular if they are forced to participate in them. On the other hand, colleges require a well-rounded student who has taken extracurriculars.