*Tic Tok* thats the sound the clock makes as i'm racing home from drama club trying to make it home in time to babysit for my neighbor, as i'mm walking home with my friend i look at her and say "I was supposed to get home at 4:30 to watch my neighbors two kids I knew I shouldn't have joined drama club it takes too much of my time." My friend looks at me and says "it'll be alright besides it's your first time being late right?" "Well yes but that's just because it's the first day of drama club! What about the upcoming days will I still be arriving late?" I say frustrated. I finally arrive to my neighbors house "where were you? Why are you so late this is so unlike you" says my neighbor I can feel my cheeks burning so I know i'm turning red how embarrassing! "I'm sorry it was the first day of drama club I had to go" I say looking at my neighbor "if you knew you had drama club you should have said that i'm now late to work, I should start heading to work now, I don't want to be more late!" I plop on the couch ashamed of myself "I cannot believe I was late i'm never late!" I say to myself, I think to myself why did they force us to join a club anyway?

Extracurricular activities should not be required because students could have other things to do right after school, like babysitting but with extracurricular activities they won't be able to do that anymore, students probably aren't interested in any of the clubs or sports the school has and thats why they didn't join/tryout for any of them

To begin, extracurricular activities are fun, but to be forced to participate in one is not too exciting for example students could be tired and want to go home right away but then they have to stay after school for another hour or two maybe even more if you're in sports and have a game. Other students could have things to do right after school, or they could be in an actual sports team and have to go to practice for that. A lot of students are not interested in many of the clubs they provide here which is why they don't join them, but since the principal said it's required it wouldn't really benefit a lot of the students. There aren't only clubs but also sports maybe students aren't as athletic as others or they don't know how to play there are a lot of reasons students wouldn't want to join a sports team or club. A lot of times students don't have the time for that they could have tons of homework and by the time they get home they're not gonna be able to finish it all and they would get in trouble the next day or maybe they have a test the next day and they wouldn't be able to study because all their time would be wasted because when they would arrive home they would have to eat dinner shower then go to bed. It's really difficult to manage time when you have a lot on your plate already, you wouldn't be able to keep up with everything.

Another reason, students shouldn't have to be forced to participate in extracurricular activities would be some struggle financially and I know from experience that you have to buy your own costumes for the play in drama club, they probably cant really afford the costumes. Students also suffer with anxiety so being in a club with a lot of people you don't know then have to speak in front and or to them would be really difficult especially if they suffer with social anxiety. A lot of students don't like to stay after school particularly because they are probably gonna hang out with their friends right after school but since they're staying after they won't have much time to hang out since a lot of students have curfews. Another example would be projects, everyone knows projects take a lot of your time so you wouldn't really have time to work on your projects if you stay after especially if you ride the activity bus home because the activity bus gets to the school at like five in the afternoon and you get home at like 6 in the afternoon so you wouldn't really have much time to work on your project now would you? Now sports, sports shouldn't really be required because some students are just not that athletic or they don't run as fast as others do, sports take more of your time than clubs do because of games you're going to have to stay until its over so like 7:30 at night which is pretty late, you wouldn't be able to do any of your work unless you're like Einstein.

In conclusion, extracurricular activities should be a choice not a requirement, grades are also really important. Staying after school could also affect your grades because you wouldn't have time to study for tests, quizzes and quick checks, you also wouldn't be able to do much of your homework. You also would not be able to eat unless you buy something from the vending machine or bring your own snack, but you could forget to bring a snack or money so you're going to have to starve until you get home. Students could also be tired so they wouldn't want to stay after school they would just want to go home and sleep, unless you stay after you cannot do that because you would get yelled at if you went to sleep. You could also participate in other things outside of school so they would be late to practice for that just because they had to participate in a club, things outside of school are probably more important too like maybe you have soccer practice for an actual team not the school team, or maybe gymnastics and you have to go to competition but you forget cause you stayed for an extra curricular activity.