Requiring Extracurricular Activities: Yes or No by Lucas

Requiring Extracurricular Activities: Yes or No by Lucas - October 2015 Scholarship Essay

Extracurricular activities are an integral part of schools. There are many to choose from. Each has something different to offer. Those activities are helpful to students in teaching many skills for use outside of school-related activities. All schools should require students to participate in some kind of extracurricular activity. Extracurricular activities help in many different ways.
Many social skills can be gained from being in extracurricular activities. Students can make friends. Those friends can come from their own school or other schools that are at organizational events. A student may meet people they would otherwise never be able to meet. Some organizations, including FFA, have camps to encourage students to meet others. Also, students learn how to relate and talk to each other. Students are able to socialize. They can learn from experience as well. Students playing sports often must work with people who are completely different than them. They may not agree on core values and what they do outside of that sport, but they learn to tolerate them. All these skills will then someday help those students work with coworkers.
Students can also learn about leadership from extracurricular activities. These activities can teach students how to become leaders. Public speaking, which some extracurricular groups have competitions for, help students learn how to tell others what they can do as a leader. If they eventually run for political office or another leadership position, they will need public speaking. Students are also encouraged to take charge of different activities. Extracurricular activities teach students how to lead well also. These activities give students leadership experience. They also give students tools and skills they can use in the future to lead. All of this will be helpful. The student could become a manager or business owner. Without these skills, the student may not be able to lead effectively.
Extracurricular activities help students with teamwork. Those activities teach students how to work as a team. The students go to events that either teach or require teamwork. They are also around others who they must work with as a team. If one person in a band plays a note at the wrong time or forgets how to play a note, it screws other things up as well. Extracurricular activities also provide teamwork experience. Students learn they can’t accomplish many tasks without teamwork, and that teamwork makes other tasks simpler. They learn how a lack of teamwork can cause failure when they do not succeed against those who work together better. If a football player does not block somebody, that person can tackle the player with the ball, who could have otherwise scored a touchdown. These teamwork skills and experiences are useful after high school. If those students do not work well as a team with co-workers, they could lose a job or have a business fail. If they are not helping their coworkers, those coworkers may ask their boss to fire them. These skills help those people learn how to not end up in those kind of situations.
Schools should require students to participate in some form of extracurricular activities. There are many ways those activities are helpful to students. Students should still participate, even if those activities are not required. School organizations can help some students improve their lives now and in the future.