Almost 50% of students in our school sign up for extracurricular activities. That is half of our school! But, there is another half to our school who do not participate in extracurricular activities. They all have their own reasons to not take part in these activities and should not be penalized for a reason which they might not be able to avoid. Therefore, I disagree with our principles decision to make it mandatory for students to participate in at least one extracurricular activity because students need that extra time to dedicate it towards their family and other activities that they go to which they prefer over the ones in school, they might feel various negative effects due to these activities, and they also might dislike the options that they are provided with in school.

Students need this extra time to use it for their families and other recreational things they do after school.. They might have to hurry to their homes because they have to pick up their siblings. I know many who go home quickly without any hesitation because they have to pick up his or her young sister or brother who can't walk home from where his or her school bus stops by themselves. Many students live far away and do not get a school bus and could get tired after an after school activity, making them unable to walk to their homes. Now, unless they can take the bus to near their homes or have a parent or guardian pick them up, this will be very problematic for them, especially for the people who decide to take part in a sports activity. People also sign up for other things that amuse them after school. For example, a student might have been part of a soccer team which they played for and trained with after school. This necessity of having to go to an after school activity becomes a huge roadblock if they want to really succeed as a soccer player or any sport in general. All in all, over usage of time by our school seems to be a big problem caused by these activities.

Schools are funded based off of how their students perform and these after school activities play a role in grade drops. Learners are often stressed out in school already because heavy loads of homework or assignments in school and extracurricular activities will more likely stress them out furthermore. The likelihood of an after school activity which isn't fun and requires you to study in a boring way, is high. Our school even makes us do homework for 3/4 of Gaming club where we are supposed to be having fun and gaming with our friends. Which also leads me to the point that some activities are misleading. Students get upset when they realize that they signed up to do homework for almost the entire time in Gaming club. Once students get a firm grasp of the idea that the activities that they are doing are not serving their purpose, they will lose interest in those activities and maybe even school. Loss of interest in school is already caused by the core subjects. And placing down more things for students to learn makes them more viable to give up on school. Basically, schools would be seen as manipulating and stressing their students out to what they think "benefits" them.

Teachers and the school, and of course mainly our principle, may think that putting down a rule to have to be "using your time for learning and having fun" makes us more productive. But in reality, it very much does not. The country with the best education system does not force work onto students by putting down homework on their backs. They instead, educate them in a fun and memorable way. Students will remember the time that they all hopped in a Minecraft server to learn math, and will most likely forget the time that they had to do five pages of math homework for two hours straight just to get a C on that homework. The manipulative part about these activities do not help the school in any way. Deceptive ways to get your students to work will backfire. So, schools should just approach this situation with more concern for the students.

All schools are not like this, so why should we be. Tricking our students to "learn", using up their time to force them to, once again, "learn" and stressing them our with these activities to make them "learn" should not be the way to go. School should invest more time listening to the voices of the students that they teach and adapt to modern times. Everything changes to fit the standards of modern society. Why should our school not do the same?