Seven hours per day for five days a week and some students have activities to do after school, along with that students have mountain high piles of homework nightly. Some couldn't fathom the amount of stress that students are under today. For those reasons, a principal adding a mandatory extracurricular activity is understandable, yet unrealistic.

Seven hours of school for five days is a very large amount of time spent on academics, but some students also do sports, tutoring, or some other activity after school in the very minimal time they have. Students who participate in sports may have been doing it all their life, so adding an extracurricular could possibly affect their sports schedule. Other students may be struggling with an aspect of school and they go to tutoring for that reason. Adding an extracurricular could interfere with the help they need to succeed.

Starting from age seven students are asked to do homework. When students are seven and in 1st grade they may not have a large amount of homework; however, when students are in high school the quantity will only grow. While some homework may not take much time for one student, another student may struggle with the assignment. For those reasons, it would be hard to expect much of a student if they also have to participate in an extracurricular.

Plenty of studies have shown that this past generation of students have the the largest amount of stress scientist have seen in years. Whether that stress comes from bullying, home life, school work, mental health, or high expectations, stress is unsettling high in students of all ages. Middle school student worry about the transition to high school, and high school students worry about their transition to college. All students worry, even if those worries are irrational, they are still stressed. That is why adding an extracurricular could be too much to ask of students.

Overall, extracurricular activities being mandatory sounds wonderful and has many pros as well, but when people look closer they realize that it would end up as a train wreck. Extracurricular activities should stay optional for those students who have the time and the energy to do their absolute best.