65% of all public school students participate in extracurricular (after-school) activities. The principle of Generic_School has decided that every student attending Generic_School must participate in an extracurricular activity. In this prompt, I will be explaining the pros and cons extracurricular activities have on students, and whether or not I agree with the principle's decision. I will first be explaining the pros and cons that extracurricular activities have on students.

There are many good benefits that extracurricular activities have on students. For example, when students participate in these after-school activities, they are able to spend more time out of the house. Sometimes kids don't want to spend all of their freetime in their house, and if they do an after-school activity, they will be able to keep themselves busy. Another good benefit that after-school activities have on students, is that you have an opportunity to meet new people. One more good benefit that extracurricular activities have on students, is that may have more fun than if you just go home and watch tv everyday. These are some of the many pros that after-schol activities have on students. There are many good benefits that extracurricular activities have on students, but now, I am going to talk about some of the cons that come with it.

There are many downfalls that after-school activities have on students. For example, sometimes students are tired, and are having a bad day, and then, they have to go to practice when they don't want to. Students should not have to worry about having to go to their after-school activity if they don't want to. Another downfall that extracurricular activities have on students, is that they may persuade you to make bad choices. For example, if you have football practice, but you have a bunch of homework you need to do, this may influence you to make bad choice, such as cheating. One more downfall that extracurricular activities have on students, is that some students may have trouble getting a ride when their after-school activity is over. If students ride the bus to, and from school, they may have no way to get home from school after their after-school activityis over. Now that I have listed the pros and cons of how students can be affected by after-school activities, I will conclude this prompt.

Listing the pros and cons that extracurricular activities have on students has helped me decide that in the end, students should be able to choose whether or not they join an after-school activity. I chose this decision because I think that some students are able to handle doing after-school activities while keeping their grades up in school. If we forced all students to participate in these activities, I believe that it would be better than forcing them to participate in something they might not want to be apart of.