Should Extracurricular Activities be a Must? by Jennifer

Should Extracurricular Activities be a Must? by Jennifer - October 2015 Scholarship Essay

No, extracurricular activities shouldn't be mandatory in order to graduate from high school. I believe everyone has their own interest and shouldn’t be obligated to do things they might not want to be involved in. Conflicts can be encountered too such as time frame scheduling. Some students have jobs to go to, or other events they must be at. Also a major conflict student’s face is handling class work along with extracurricular activities.
As a student in John F. Kennedy High school, I find myself not very interested in extracurricular activities, why? I find my time schedule very tight with school work, such as studying, doing homework. Apart from that I take care of my two little siblings therefore, I'm responsible for their care. I'm also currently practicing everyday driving behind the wheel. As many students can relate they have a lot to do after school. As doing all of this, I don’t have a lot of time to relax and do other fun activities. Usually when I’m done doing all the things I needed to do it’s already night time and I need to get ready for bed.
Students often encounter obstacles that might not let them attend extracurricular activities even if they wanted to. For Instance, My friend takes IB and Ap classes and afterschool she goes directly to work from 3-7pm. When she arrives home she starts her homework and starts studying until late night she often spends few hours to complete all of her tasks. The next day she finds herself really tired. If extracurricular activities were required imagine how she can manage with work. It must be very exhausting.
Many teachers and others may notice that some students that participate in extracurricular activities aren’t as focus in their class work. Many may ask why? I believe it’s because they have other things on their mind on how, what is going to occur in that activity they may be in. An example, one of my classmate is a football athlete he finds himself having a hard time concentrating in his class work because he has practice right after and sometimes he has to leave early for that activity so he misses classwork and has to make up for it during lunch which is the only time he can go to all the classes to make up any work he may have missed or to get extra help. Which may not be a lot of time to do all the things he needs to do. Many of the students feel stressed because of the school work, extracurricular activities plus they might have to things for their personal life.
There are many options to get skills apart from extracurricular activities, everyday by performing an activity such as helping an elderly, doing chores we learn to help the community, allowing us to increase our skills and become better as a person.