"Love for exploration", "keen to try new activities" and "always on the lookout for an adventure" are mottoes that no longer describe the human race and now belong in cheap inspirational posters sold for a few dollars on amazon. Let's face it, our whole species does not deserve to take credit for the hard work and intellectual genius a few humans exhibited when making major world-changing discoveries, but it does. We consider ourselves ready for adventure, exploration, and discovery, when most of the youth of America spends time locked away, stuck in a rut, performing the same activities every day. However, even though I deny the fact that currently most of us engage in exploration, I affirm and stand by the belief we can change. There are multiple ways through which one can learn to crave for the unknown, and one of them is by implementing it into our school system. Therefore, I stand by my principal's decision of mandatory extracurricular activities, for I know the concept of exploration in itself, the access to experiences one can't normally get at home and the encouragement of social interaction with peers who share your interests, are key steps in the process of growth.

Nowadays, kids, teenagers and even adults do not explore activities as much as they used to. The excuses one might give for this are all some variation of "Oh, I simply don't have the time anymore!" to "I am just too tired and don't want a bigger workload." These claims, however, don't justify our situation, for most people do have free time even if it is to a short extent and this is especially true when one is referring to kids and teenagers. The true cause for this type of lifestyle is no one other than ourselves and "our ferocious love of the 'known'. It is easy to stay stuck in cycles, but it is hard to dive into new hobbies on your own since the majority of people like 'easy life'. Mandatory extracurricular activities are the 'hard exploration of new hobbies' implemented into 'easy life' because most teens are used to going to school and not used to discovery. Some might argue the change to their school schedule at first because it disrupts their 'norm' but they will get used to it, and many will come to accept this as a new part of their life. The goal is to make discovery of the new the norm, and that can easily be achieved through this change.

Secondly, the 'new' we are striving to get can hardly be found at home. Clubs are specialized on a subject or type of art and often have unique equipment which enhances the learning of it greatly. It is a privilege to have the access to this equipment, and making the most out of it should be important. This also relates to the fact that many might not be inclined to try a new activity without having the guidance of a teacher or professional. With clubs the encouragement increases, and that is a key-part of wanting to try the new experience in the first place. As an example, consider art. There are multiple online courses an aspiring artist might try, but they could potentially be discouraged by it since it is not as an engaging of an experience. In an art-club however, a teacher is there to help you by providing materials, encouragement and also knowledge, making one more inclined to try out the new activity.

Finally, it encourages social interaction in an online and person-to-person aspect in a growing world where it is needed, and lacking. Through extracurricular activities, one might not only find more friends, but they will find friends whom they share interests with. There are two reasons as to why that is crucial for a growing teenager. The first being, 'it's nice' and the majority of people like friends, and the second being that it enables for mutual growth and also encouragement in the pursue of said interest. Sociology (social science) shows that a person who particularly enjoys an 'out of the norm' activity such as coding might be discouraged from pursuing it if peers they interact with do not pursue the activity themselves. An extracurricular activity helps you find people who perform the same activity as you, form connections with them, and prevents you from being discouraged. This can also apply to online environments. Many might argue, "Wait, isn't our lack of person-to-person interaction coming from social media itself?", and my answer is that yes, but no. People seek online interaction because it is easy to find others who share your interests and passions, but in result, they sometimes end up eliminating a chance for real life relationships. However, extracurricular activities on themselves help improve the problem, because not only will you have more time for real-life talking, but if you really enjoy the activity, you might seek people which talk about said interest and turn your online experience into something semi-educational.

Extracurricular activities have a huge, positive effect on us and are therefore, crucial . We need exploration to grow as a society and the earlier we learn to realize this, the better. Some schools such as Generic_School have already implemented this "mandatory" rule because of the great benefits it bring to students. It allows us to grow and explore new interests, encourages us to pursue said interests by providing us with teacher support and also need material, and they help us make connections by meeting others who are like us and have similar goals and objectives. However, it doesn't end there. It is in your power to continue to explore your current interests and discover new ones for extracurricular school activities don't last forever. So if one truly want to follow amazon's inspirational posters, you must remember that it is mostly your choice. Don't tell yourself "I don't have time" and dont be afraid of a bigger workload, the pursuit of an interest is rewarding, and enables opportunity. Who knows, maybe you can become the next genius whose intellectual property wants to be stolen by the whole human race.