I think students should not have to participate because they might not enjoy it,they could fail, or they have other things to do. It's not fair to make a student do something like this it could cause hurt rather then help. The choice should be up to the student. The principal may have his reasons but there are string reason against this rule as well.

They might not enjoy it,Not everyone is good at something. The simple fact of the matter is not everyone gets along with teachers and students alike. That could cause a person to dislike extracurricular Charles Darwin once said "Do what you love and love what you do". In my opinion if you dont love or even like something it makes it harder and harder to get up and go put energy into doing it. So in the end enjoying the extracurricular activity is a big part.

They could fail lets say everyone else got spots in there favorite group or club and you where stuck with something like yearbook design. You know when it comes to being creative you are the worst but your barely passing school now so you give it a shot. Your teacher tells you that you are failing yearbook design and it could affect your graduating but if you hadnt taken the class you woundn't be making A's but you would be passing. All of this over one class that you wouldnt be taking if it wasnt for your principal and his new rule. I think that there are better ways for students to get involved not because they are forced but because they want to.

They could also have other things to do like how a lot of kids now a days have siblings. Which could be a huge problem if they have to join extracurricular. Parents work and older siblings have to watch there younger ones but meetings for this club that the student had to join is after school. How should the student get there or why should they have to worry about this anyway. Its harder for some people to do things like that its just a fact.

In conclusion there are more cons to making students get involved in extracurricular then there are pros. Everyone life is different and expecting every students to be able to do something like this could cause them to dislike things,fail or even skip it all together due to other things. In my opinion its a bad idea the time could be spend better. The average student goes to school 8 hours a shouldnt that be enough.