Imagine having to take off work because the club you're in has to get together. You have to tell your mom you needed to sacrifice your work hours and won't make enough money to buy this week's groceries. By requiring kids to be apart of an extracurricular activity, difficluties similar to this start to emerge in their home life. I don't think schools should require kids to be apart of an extracurricular activity because not all kids can afford to be in one, parents are working and can't provide adequate transportation, and some kids are needed at their homes and can't leave to go to the activity.

One problem that shows requiring kids to be apart of an afterschool activity is not a smart choice is the fact that not everyone can afford to get the equipment needed for the activites. For example, if someone chooses to join the softball team, they would have to invest in softball cleats, a helment, shin guards, and much more supplies that were required to play. Sports equipment is not the cheapest, and not everyone has the means to pay for everything all at once. Also, a lot of clubs have a joining fee on top of all the equipment that's needed to be purchased, which doesn't make choosing an extracurricular any easier. Kids should be given the choice to join a club and if they choose to not join anything, that's their personal decision which deserves to be respected.

Another reason why joining an extracurricular activitiy should be optional is because a lot of parents are working and can't take the time off to drive their kid to club meetings or practices. There are other ways you could get to practice, like carpool or walking, but you can't put that type of pressure on somebody else's parent all the time and some people don't feel comfortable walking places. On top of that, parents don't always have extra money for gas and having to drive their kid to and from school more often than they normally would need to wastes a large amount of it. This is showing that it's hard for parents to have to drive their kid everywhere and it would be best to let kids decide if they can be apart of an extracurricular activty or not.

Lastly, every family has problems of some sort, some of which might require kids to be at their house as much as possible. For example, some kids have really young siblings that they have to watch as soon as they get back from school, which would take up all the time that they would spend at an afterschool activity. It's also possible that some families might be planning on moving houses soon and would need their kids to help them pack whenever they were avaliable. This would cause kids to have to be at home as much as they could and wouldn't leave any extra time to be in an afterschool activity. Being apart of an extracurricular activity is a decision made by kids and their parents and shouldn't be forced by anybody.

In conclusion, kids shouldn't be required to be apart of an extracurricular activity because it's very costly, it's hard for parents to provide transportation all of the time, and some kids are needed at their homes more often than not which gives them little or no free time. It wouldn't be fair for kids to be forced into doing something that would make their life harder, therefore schools should keep on giving them a choice.