Imagine a nice day after school, all your friends are there and you get to participate in some sort of activity with them. Those are called after school activities. These activities benefit the children that partake in them. Now, the question is, "Should all students have to take an extracurricular?" Well, these activities give students a time to do what they want to do for fun or as a hobby. These activities can also enhance creativity. Lastly, with the things most children deal with, whether it be stress or family issues, these activities can relieve you of your stress and depending on the activity, benefit your physical health.

Many students are busy after school. They aren't always busy with what they want to do. The types of clubs at my school varies and there are so many different types of clubs. With required extracurricular after school, students are given the time to do what they want. If the children are passionate enough, they might even find whatever they might want to become later in life. In a way, that is an important journey in a student's life. Trying to find what he or she'd like to do in his or her life, is one of the most important journeys in life. Extracurricular activities will make students think or at least pop and idea in their heads.

Extracurricular activities like Debate, Science Olympiad, Mathcounts, and Quizbowl, require students to think. For example, Science Olympiad tryouts require you to build a perfectly structured bridge. Clubs like Debate require you to think on the spot without any breaks. With the situations within these activities, students will learn true creativity. In the future, creativity is one of the most important key components to a person. Whether it be job interviews or college admissions, creativity is very important. Extracurricular activities will give students the ability to use their knowledge in an effective, creative way.

Lastly,there are hundreds of students who have something they've been thinking about for the past few days, or things they will start thinking about. With their head non-stop thinking, many students are stressed and even deprived of their physical health. Sports are also extracurricular activities. Students can play sports where they may get their daily workout. After school could be the only time where students can stay active and actually be happy about it. Some may argue that there is physical education class, but that is in fact a course and it is within schools hours. Physical education classes have learning goals and different types of sports. This class only adds to the stress and most importantly, does not keep the students happy. There aren't enough groans in the world to describe how students feel about physical education class. After school activities allow you to spend more time with your friends and forget about what is going on at home. They are given the time to talk as they please, and joke around. That is not something many can do at home due to their restrictions, parents' requirements and expectations. After school can be a stress-free environment.

I do in fact agree with my principal's decision to make extracurricular activities required. I believe it will benefit children in many ways or at least in some way. The time they are deprived of at home, students' abilities to use their knowledge and their physical health are just some of the many reasons why extracurricular activities should be required. Students deserve the ability to do as they please for a given amount of time, or they are not living a humane life.