Academic Freedom by Abigail

Academic Freedom by Abigail - October 2015 Scholarship Essay

Experience and widely accepted opinion should tell us that as soon as a task is required of us, it becomes less fun. Just look at the internet to find thousands of marketed educational materials that guarantee words like “fun,” and “exciting.” Extracurricular activities are usually by definition non-mandatory. They serve the purpose of allowing us to pursue interests and dreams on our own terms. So, because forced actions are rarely enjoyable or profitable for educational purposes, I believe that extracurricular activities should not be required for high school graduation. First, compulsory measures detract from fun. Second, they do not further knowledge as efficiently. Finally, extracurricular activities should be a basic freedom of the student to learn only those things that particularly interest them.

First, fun is degraded. This is not to say that learning should not be challenging, merely that challenge without stimulation does not equal knowledge. I am, and always have been, an avid book reader. However, there are memorable instances in my childhood when I told myself that I was going to read a particular book, but then that book was assigned as a school project instead. The instant the task was given to me, I both no longer wished to read it, and actively resisted learning from it. The reports I wrote included the bare minimum required and were extremely poor examples of what I could really do.

This ties directly into my second point, which is that required tasks do not inherently increase learning. Another example from my life is that of music. I love music, and I play several instruments. I’ve been involved with piano for over fifteen years. However, I’m not as proficient at it as I would have been because I vigorously rebelled against it when it was required of me in school. Did I learn? Yes. Was it fun to learn? Very rarely, and only if a piece of music was especially fun to play. Am I as good a musician as I could be given the number of years I have been playing? No, and I attribute that directly to my childhood.

Finally, extracurricular activities should be the right of the individual. Here, we can go back to the previous example of music. I often taught myself extracurricular pieces. Then, I would come to my teacher with various questions when I felt I wasn’t getting something quite right. They were pieces that interested me and to this day, they are the ones I remember best and play best. I learned them on my own terms.

In conclusion, I do not believe that extracurricular activities should be required for graduation. It completely redefines the term. Naturally, I believe things like music and reading should be taught. And certainly, aspects of those parts of education should be required. Perhaps however, we should think twice about requiring more advanced courses in those areas and choose to make them electives instead. The choice of the student should be consulted. They are the ones who ultimately know what they like and they will learn what they enjoy.