Students should have a choice about their time after school. They shouldn't be forced to join a club that they possibly won't even enjoy. I disagree with the principal, because students might have siblings or other family that they need to take care of, lower income families might need their children to take jobs or watch their siblings, and students might not even enjoy the choices of activities.

First, students who have siblings or other family need time to watch their siblings and make sure their needs are taken care of. They might have sick or elderly family that need constant attention. Parents who work longer hours need the older and more mature to watch their younger. Parents who don't bring in enough money for a babysitter will depend on an older child to watch over the younger siblings, and a busy schedule won't help at all. If younger children get hurt because of these extracurricular activities, who will be to blame?

Another reason that extracurricular activities are a bad idea is that lower income families need their students to take part time jobs or watch their siblings, as stated in the last paragraph. Students who take jobs need time to actually do those jobs instead of getting sidetracked by meaningless activities. They will be needed by the family to provide for them, and these activities will do nothing for the family. Their parents will depend on them to stay afloat and keep everyone together, and if they're late for their jobs they could get fired, which would most likely be catastrophic for the family. Students from lower income families also most likely don't care as much about extracurricular activities as others do.

The last reason that extracurricular activities are a bad idea is that students might not enjoy the choices given to them, or the clubs that they want are completely full. Not all choice activities are fun or exciting, and sometimes students can get very bored and cause trouble. The choices for them might not be what they hoped for, or they could be disappointed by the reality of the club once they actually get in. The club they wanted the most might also be completely full, which would not only disappoint them, but leave them with a club that they most likely won't enjoy to its full potential. Forcing a student into a club that they don't enjoy is just cruel.

The principal forcing students to join clubs is not good, because the students might have siblings or weak/ elderly family they need to take care of and give constant attention to, lower income families might need their students during that time in order for them to do jobs or take care of siblings, and students might not enjoy any of the given choices of clubs. This principal needs to stop forcing students to do clubs when they most likely do not care about extracurricular activities.