Although
it is often thought that after-school
activities
are essential for
children
's holistic growth, others believe that they add too much burden to
children
having to juggle between academic and non-academic matters. In my opinion, co-curricular
activities
are vital to developing important life skill sets,
such
as collaboration, empathy, and communication, but
children
should not be forced to do them unless they have enough free
time
.
On one hand, extra-curricular
activities
, which mostly involve sports, community service and arts, are a great platform for
children
to learn teamwork and be creative.
In other words
, academic subjects focus too much on individual effort and
as a result
, it is often observed that many academically strong
children
end up not as successful at work as their peers, who were active in co-curricular
activities
since they struggle to collaborate and communicate effectively with others.
Furthermore
, performing well in both academic and non-academic definitely shows that you have gone above and beyond your basic academic expectation.
Hence
, top universities’ selection criterion emphasizes extra-curricular involvement.
On the other hand
, people might argue that after-school
activities
take away
time
from academic studies. Some
parents
who focus on academics only think that after-school
activities
are a waste of
time
and energy. There is a heightened interest in mental health;
therefore
, some
parents
also
prefer not to pressure their
children
as it is not healthy. There are a lot of depressed
children
in countries with demanding academic standards,
thus
,
parents
start prioritizing
children
’s happiness.
In addition
to that, in
this
current society, which promotes free will, many support
children
have the power to choose their own path.
Finally
, In my view,
children
need to join extracurricular
activities
. It provides a way to learn indispensable life skills. Though I agree that free will is a basic right,
children
require proper guidance from experienced adults to navigate the real world. One way to resolve
this
is letting
children
try and choose what co-curricular
activities
that interest them. They
also
can make a lot of friends, who can be their valuable support system, through these
activities
.
Last
but not least, research has shown that non-academic
activities
could be a channel to release stress.
For example
, exercising releases dopamine which boosts mental health.
Nevertheless
,
parents
should not force their
children
to do
such
activities
especially when they have other academic tasks to be done because
this
will affect their performance at school.
In conclusion,
while
people may vary in their opinion, I think that extracurricular
activities
have a lot of benefits for
children
, yet if they can be a burden for
children
,
parents
must not force them to do them.
Consequently
, If schools taught their students about
time
management, they would be able to balance both academic subjects and non-academic
activities
.