CCA Should be a Mandatory Part of Education for All Students Essay Example

or can be mutually connected with the academic subjects. CCA usually include many various subjects for the students to choose from. For instance, an international school in Indonesia has almost 30 choices of extra-curricular activities, which include sports (basketball, soccer, swimming, badminton), arts(painting, photography, acting, orchestra, et cetera. ), and other subjects such as cooking, computer, English debate clubs, Biology and Physics clubs, Japanese clubs, and so on.

Students are entitled to choose their CCA from the list given. As students feel stress when dealing with the on-going tests and assignments, CCA serve as a stress reliever. Extra-curricular activities act as a medicine to cool them down from the obstacles they are facing. Several studies revealed that CCA can assist in increasing students’ academic performances. Charles Maher, a psychologist specialized in school sports activities, conducted several studies which showed that students who participated in extra-curricular activities, especially sports, have better grades in contrast to those who do not.

This happened because work ethics is taught to athletic students, such as how to work hard to succeed, play fairly, respect other people, et cetera. These athletic students then apply these ethics to their studies. Thus, with CCA, they are exposed to something new which is not taught in academic courses. During CCA, students are able to apply the theories and formulas learnt from school into practice. As a case, one secondary school offers a subject about theory of sports. In this subject, students are to familiarise themselves with the different theories used in different sports.

By joining CCA, students can apply theories they learnt in different games. CCA are not only useful for relieving stress or new learning, they

also allow students to manage their time well. Nowadays, many schools regard CCA as important as the academic subjects as the activities balance the students’ lives. Everything in this world requires good balance, including the students. It is a lot of pressure to study five days a week, excluding own revision and attendance of tuition classes if any.

In addition, high expectation from parents will too increase students’ stress thus resulting in depression. Thus, CCA are brought in to balance students’ life and help counter their problems. As some students are more talented in non-academic subjects, CCA allows them to fully express themselves and relax in the meantime. Besides balancing, CCA are also platforms for students to find their true talents. For example, students who do poorly in terms of academics may feel depressed or hopeless because they are not as good as their well-achieved friends.

However, they might find themselves achieving great results in their CCA instead. Students tend to focus and put in more effort in the subject which they are interested in. For example, students who do poorly in science or math may do well in other interest groups like music or art as their interest is there. Therefore, it is recommended that schools provide and encourage students to participate in CCA. Despite having many advantages for students, critics and objections of CCA are still voiced out by parents to schools.

The main objection is that the most important part in education is still the academic subjects. CCA or extra-curricular activities are just “extra activities” which students should not be focused on as compared to academic subjects. Sadly, this is true. Academic subjects are important

as it plays a critical role in their future. As seen, students need to meet certain requirements for academic subjects to continue their study in higher level. Students do not go to school every day because of CCA, but because of their main subjects.

However, several case studies at some schools in America focused in youth sports development, students growth and development is not only about academic, as reported by Ken Reed, New York Times reporter. American schools felt that nothing is more important than students’ development in the social life and their participations. While students who only study and do not have any social interactions with friends, their mental and psychological development will not be fully developed. Students are able to socialise by joining CCA as they get to meet new friends who are different from the one in their usual academic courses.

When students get prohibited from participating in CCA, the development of the student will get retarded, quoted from Charles Maher. Besides academic subjects being the most important thing, some parents also doubt that CCA cost extra money for school fees. In the United States, extra budget of the educational system has been spent for CCA fund resulting in many American parents disagreeing of CCA and request to remove the program. Parents felt that with the removal of CCA, students will concentrate and focused more on their academic studies.

However, as stated by Ken Reed in 2004, it is not guarantee that students will improve in their academic students if they did not participate in CCA. On the contrary, their grades are badly affected increasing the dropout rates. The money acquired was used to enhance

the facilities giving students a better experience. As a case in point, students in the sport or music CCA will be trained to compete competitions that will be an advantage to the school as not only it increased the school’s image but it also helps in aiding the school financially.

CCA can be used as a way to relieve the stress which students undergo from the monotonous academic courses and enrich students’ knowledge. Not only with the theories learning that academic courses offered, but with CCA they can have a balance in studies and play, which result in a learning equilibrium. In CCA, students can also develop and find new skills which they perhaps did not know they had. Remember, academic courses are not always the most important thing that parents should prioritise. Students have their own talent which they master in.

One example that parents can take noted is, the person that used to be the richest man on earth, Bill Gates. He was the richest person in this world, but he did not graduated from university and even dropped out from Harvard. See? To become a great person, the students do not have to be all studious and diligent; the will and the hard work will pay off their results someday. One interesting quote from Bill Gates shows this opinion, “I failed in some subjects in exam, but my friend passed in all. Now he is an engineer in Microsoft and I am the owner of Microsoft. ”