You just finished a long, hard day at school. You're exhausted, and you can barely keep your eyes open. However, your principle has required you to take an extracurricular activity, and you have to spend another hour at school. After school has ended, I just want to get home and lay in my comfy bed. It would be very irritating if I had to spend another stressful hour at school. I disagree to requiring all students to participate in at least one activity because students need to learn to act on their own interests, they may have a very busy life at home, and it adds unnecessary stress on the kids.

First, these young adults must learn to act on their own interests. It's a necessary life skill for people to go for what they find a liking to. People don't just wait for their hobbies to be required to do. When you become an adult, you have to make decisions for yourself. Next, when kids act on their own interests they become more engaged. Students are not gonna want to do an activity if it's something they didn't even want to do in the first place. When a kid signs up for an extracurricular themselves, it becomes way more enjoyable for them. Lastly, it makes them feel more responsible. When a teenager does what they want, they know that they asserted themselves in a way they wanted to. It's amazing for a kid to feel responsible because it will make them want to do more responsible actions in the future. So that is why students should educate themselves on acting on their own interests.

Second, these people may have too busy of a home life to do an extracurricular activity. These kids have a family at home, and it's unfair if we give them little time to spend time with them. The kids barely get to see them with the amount of time they spend at school without the extracurricular activity. It is important at this age for the teenagers to build strong bonds with their families. I value the bond I have with my family, but when I'm busy with school I never see them. Next, these kids won't have enough time to spend with their friends. You never know if their extracurricular activities has their friends in it, and if you forced them to join one, it's unlikely that they would. At these ages, the kids want to make memories and enjoy their youth. If we make them stay at school, it may be hard to do that. Lastly, these young adults may also have work outside of school. At this age, they want to get the experience of working. We'd be putting too much on their plates if we made them take an extracurricular activity. Overall, it'd be too hectic for the kids who have a lot to do at home to take an extracurricular activity.

Lastly, requiring them to take an extracurricular activity adds unnecessary stress on the students. For example, they have a ton of homework that they must complete. When you make them take an extracurricular activity, it takes away time for them to complete their schoolwork. In the end, we'd just be giving them a more jam-packed schedule. Next, we could be adding social stress on the students who don't want to take the extracurricular. Kids don't want to be put in an environment that makes them uncomfortable. I know what that feels like because I've been in many situations where I was in a social setting where the people made me very uncomfortable. Another example is, the teenagers will be getting less sleep. These students already don't get enough sleep as it is. Studies have shown that many teenagers don't get the preferred amount of sleep. When we force them to take an activity, we give them less time to do the things they need to do out of school. This will result in less time for sleep. That puts stress on them because when you lack sleep, it is hard to focus and makes it hard for them to pay attention in class. Therefore, we would be adding too much mental strain on the kids.

In conclusion, it is not an intelligent idea to force students to take an extracurricular because students have to assert themselves in things they want to be in, their home life may be too jam-packed, and it adds mental strain on the kids. If you're reading these, make sure to schedule your events so your day isn't too busy. You never know if your school board will make extracurricular activities required. Therefore, I stand by my opinions because after school I'm exhausted and tired. The only thing I want to do when I get home is rest in my bed.