Middle school, where the days seem to drag on hour by hour, just waiting, living until the next bell. Millions of students across America suffer from this treacherous cycle everyday. Although millions suffer from this process, not all students go home just to repeat it all over again. A large majority of people participate in at least one extracurricular activity no matter if it is just being on the student council, playing sports, or simply being in the yearbook club, it makes school so much more enjoyable. Not only does this give teenagers something to look forward to after school, but it also give them something to strive for in and out of the school day. These activities also teach students a variety of essential life lessons that they could never learn in school. Therefore, students should be required to take part in at least one extracurricular activity. Overall, participating in extracurricular activities is extremely positive because people can learn time management, fall in love with something that they would never have tried, and it forces people to figure out their main priorities in life.

People often find themselves overwhelmed with how much they have to do and how little time they have to do it. Taking part in more activities outside of school can help to teach these people how to manage their time properly so that they can avoid the overwhelming feeling that drags them down. For example, students might not get to their homework because they have taken too much time to do other unimportant things since they are unable to manage their time. This can be fixed by giving these people something else to work on so that they are required to be disciplined enough to get everything done. Learning time management also helps students receive more free time than ever before since they know to do the important things first and be done with it. These time management skills will also help people much further down the road of life.

Many young teenagers are often too timid to step out of their comfort zone on their own, so sometimes they might need a little push to get started. There are so many positives to trying new things like joining clubs or sports. Extracurricular activities can do so much for people in life and some will never get to experience that drive and love that comes with those activities. If these students never try something new they will miss and opportunity of a lifetime and miss out on so many friendships. As an example, Michael Phelps' mom made him sign up for swimming as a precaution because she did not want him to drown. After that, he ended up falling in love with the sport and going farther than he could have ever imagined. For these reasons, students should be required to participate in an extracurricular activity.

A large majority of middle school students have absolutely no clue of what they want to do in the future or what their main concerns are because they have nothing to worry about other than school. Extracurricular activities would help them figure out what their main priorities are exactly. If they are concerned about these activities, it would help them make better decisions in order to keep those priorities straight. These responsible actions would assist in the process of figuring out what students want to pursue in the future and therefore make it easier to accomplish a goal because they would have been working towards it for a long time.

In conclusion, there are countless reasons why students should be required to participate in extracurricular activities, some specific reasons being that they teach proper time management, could show you how much you love something, and assist in figuring out main priorities in life. There are so many positives that they outweigh any negatives that could arise. These life lessons will expand and travel so far with people in their journey. Some students may never do these activities after middle school, but at least they will have taken a small part in some of the most moving learning experiences ever known to school system.