Rising Student Stress Levels by Moriah

Rising Student Stress Levels by Moriah - October 2015 Scholarship Essay

Have you ever volunteered at something, been at a sporting event, or attended a club meeting where someone did not want to be there, it wasn’t fun, was it? Students should not be required to participate in extracurricular activities to receive a high school diploma because it causes them to resent their participation, as well as causing students additional stress and consuming a high school student’s valuable time.
When high school students are forced to participate in extracurricular activities, they usually resent being forced to attend and therefore do not enjoy the experience. When a volunteer works an event that they do not wish to attend, their attitude at the event typically reflects their desire to be there. Requiring extracurricular activities for all students takes away from the joy and sense of accomplishment students who would have voluntarily participated in would have received after the activity. Also, extracurricular activities are designed to be extra activities that a student participates in outside of school; if the student is required to participate it does not show that a student is taking an initiative to get involved in their school or community. Extracurricular activities are designed to provide the students extra opportunities to get involved, requiring extra involvement from students causes students to resent their participation and shows no student initiative.
There are 24 hours in a day. High school students spend approximately 7 hours a day at school, are expected to spend additional time that varies from 1-4 hours with a student’s course load at home studying and doing homework, maintain a healthy lifestyle that involves 30 minutes to an hour of exercise and sleep habits that include a minimum of 8 hours of sleep, as well as a possibly working a part time job to pay for expenses and save money for a college education. Requiring students to spend additional amounts of their time participating in extracurricular activities can overwhelm students who have more commitments than they can maintain. When an individual has too many responsibilities and not enough time to maintain the aforementioned commitments, they typically have to take time away from maintaining a healthy lifestyle, potentially causing health complications. If an individual takes time away from maintaining their health they will have lower energy levels and no longer be capable of properly devoting themselves to their commitments, causing high stress levels. High stress levels are not beneficial to one’s health and should not be caused through a schools requirement of extracurricular participation.
High school students face many challenges daily that include fighting stress and attempting to maintain a good academic standing, schools should not increase this stress by requiring extracurricular activities.