Forcing Students to Participate in Extracurricular Activities

Imagine you are an already busy highschooler focusing on maintaining your grades and your social life. All of the sudden, your principal decides that each student must participate in at least one extracurricular activity. Despite having a lot on your plate, you are now required to alter your weekly schedule in order to comply. Forcing students to participate in an extracurricular activity is unethical and promotes involuntary participation to students who are already busy managing grades and a social life.

School is difficult as it is. Students are constantly under pressure from family and peers to maintain perfect scores and attain high grades among their countless classes. Despite time given in school to get work done, many find themselves pouring countless hours over a desk at night, losing sleep for a 4.0 GPA. Students are given numerous assignments from each of their classes. Finishing these projects is difficult enough, and getting an A+ on all of them is even harder. Afterschool is already busy for students who focus on academics, and making them add an extracurricular will possibly lower their grades and motivation for school and grades.

In addition to academics, many students seek to uphold a social life. Hanging out with friends, going out for a coffee, or watching a movie are among the minor things that relieve stress from the life of an average teenager. School can undoubtedly be physically and mentally draining. Therefore, spending a couple hours per week socializing and hanging with friends can help a student immensely. However, these minuscule ways of staying happy can all be taken away when a student is required to make time for an extracurricular activity.

Lastly, forcing a teenager give up valuable time and effort into an unwanted extracurricular is simply unethical and immoral. Students should be allowed to explore their interests on their own, as opposed to being forced to participate in something they barely have any connection with. The best way for a student to succeed is to build upon something they already have skills or an interest in, and the activities that the school promote do not cater to each individual student. This new rule promotes involuntary participation and will possibly make teenagers resilient to exploring their interests and values.

Forcing students to participate in an extracurricular activity is unethical and promotes involuntary participation to students who are already busy managing grades and a social life. Highschoolers, and even middle-schoolers, are constantly under pressure to pursue high academic scores while putting aside time for socialization. This new rule is immoral and does not value student's time or schedule. The school should spread awareness about after school activities so that teenagers can reach out on their own, rather than bluntly making them join an activity they don't have time for or interest for.