Did you know that being forced to do very unnecessary things for no reason can give you cancer. This should be the end of my essay, but I guess cancer isn't reason enough for the Department of Education or whoever is grading this thing so here we go. I believe thats students shouldn't have to participate in extracurricular activities because the school might not provide anything that interests them, they might need the time for other important things they have to do, and the principal shouldn't get to decide what you have to do outside of school and in your free time.

My first reason, besides cancer, would be the possibility that students might not find anything that they like or that peeks their interest in the schools extracurricular program. At Generic_Name, there are a lot of extracurricular activities for children to participate in, and most kids can find something that they like, key word being most. Some of the kids at Generic_Name have absolutely no interest what so ever in staying after school. Whether that may be because they dont like the activities, or if it's because somebody they don't like is in one of the only activities that they like to do, it still wouldn't be fair to them if they were forced to participate in these shenanigans for no apparent reason. And if people who don't want to participate are being forced to participate, they aren't going to care much at all for the activity, and so they aren't going to try, that in turn slows the whole operation down, which ruins it for the kids who actually do want to participate. All of it just would be unfair to a lot of people, so we shouldn't do it.

The Second reason I have is the fact that a lot of people need, and use the time they have after school to do very necessary stuff. Carrying for family members, doing chores, studying, and going to doctor appointments are only a handful of the things that many students have to do directly after school ends. Most of the students' worries aren't about being bored, it's about having enough time to do all the things you have to do, and taking away a large fraction of that time isn't exactly what you would smart. Now, imagine some eighth grader that is really struggling with math, he's bending over backwards trying to understand what the mixture of all these numbers and letters mean, he's tried to ask a teacher, but he just doesn't get the way she explains it. He tried asking his friends for help, but they don't know how to explain it either. He knows exactly who could help him, his mom. But he can't get help from his mom about all these things he has been taught through out the year, and the SOL is in a week. If only he didn't have to do all of that unnecessary work and ... Oh! would you look at that, now he has cancer. It's not like the entirety of our after school time is spent fooling around and selling drugs, we only do that half of the time.

I also understand that this idea isn't entirely fraud. It would have some benefits such as keeping kids that might get into trouble outside of school, busy inside of school, it could also build a sense of unity between the students and the school. But the way I see it, the cons very much outweigh the pros in this situation. which leads me to my final reason for why this is dumb, why should the principal get to decide what I get and don't get to do outside of school, and outside, of school hours. I am pretty sure the principal has neither the right nor the power to enforce such a thing. Me and my family should be the only ones deciding what I should or shouldn't do with my free time. Plus, it is highly unlikely that this would pass if our principal tried to turn this into a rule, so why am I even writing this.

I genuinely think that this a very stupid idea because of the fact the it will help or not affect a select group of students that are completely free after school, don't mind being in school for two more hours, or already stay after school everyday. So, you, yes you, I want you to march over to the principal's office spin his chair around and tell him he's a bad bad boy.