How would you feel if your principle told you how to spend your time outside of school? When and why you should do something? Before you decide, read the essay on why students should not be required to participate in extracurricular activities.

The first topic is that making students participate could make the activity less fun. It would be unfair to the people who want to participate. People who want to do the activity should not have to deal with someone who does not have a passion for the activity, and frankly, does not want to be there.

Also, the person who is being forced may not have an interest in the topic and will not benefit the team. Forcing students to do something they do not want to do could slow the entire group down. The student could be rushing to do their share of the work so the can get to do other things. Therefore, they might not do the job to the best of their abilities. This could result in the entire group having to do more work and preventing them from doing other projects.

Secondly, time management. As we all know students lives can be difficult and a pain to manage. Making time for your family is something every kid should do. However, by making kids participate in a club, they might have to start cutting out family time from their hectic schedule. In health class the teachers tell us to always make time for your family. How would we make time for our family if we have to participate in a club that takes up our free time? Next, the hardest thing to manage is school. Adding this requirement could make it harder for some students to have time to do their homework, projects, and study for their tests. Taking away the students right to choose could result in their grades and SOL scores going down. The next example is friends. Making kids participate could lead to them canceling plans with friends, and result in them losing their friends, because now their free time has been taken up doing these clubs they have no passion for.

Finally, this could make it harder to socialize. Forcing students to participate could lead to other members of the club resenting them for not doing their share of the work. Which, sadly, could end friendships before they even have a chance. Some people will say that by making them do this they will make more friends. However, friendships cannot be forced, and they have to start with something two people have in common. Next, by forcing kids to join clubs, they will not make friends because they could be the only person in the group who does not want to be there. This means they might not pursue a friendship because it started off with something they do not have in common. The last example is that this could lead to bullying. The student who does not want to be in the club could feel singled out because no one wants to talk to them because they do not have anything in common. Therefore, the student will feel bullied and singled out of the entire class.

Forcing kids to participate in these activities, is not in their best interests because it will make the activities less fun, harder to fit in their schedule, and will make it difficult to socialize. Forcing kids to participate in activities can only serve to hurt them inside and outside of school.