Eng. 070 Jasmine Cotts
Why do schools always worry about extracurricular activities last? Some schools do actually recognize how beneficial extracurricular activities are for the students and therefore they try there best to avoid having to give up these activities. The schools that do not worry about them are usually schools that have to work on a fixed budget. They are also the ones that need these activities the most. "When funding gets tight, don't cut activities.", said Ms. Barber, who is leading the study along with Jacquelynne S. Eccles, a professor of psychology and education at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Their studies showed that activities are linked to better grades, lower rates of truancy, stronger feelings of attachment to a school, and higher rates of college attainment. Extracurricular activities and non general education classes are essential for students who wish to succeed. According to Charles Davidson, extracurricular Activities allow students to develop physically, creatively, build self confidence, team spirit, and it is a good output for stress.
When students get involved in sports they are healthy and they develop physically. They also have a strong idea on teamwork and team spirit. Also students that are involved in any sport build self confidence and school pride. Also any gym teacher or coach will tell you that all sports provide a productive way to let go of all of that anger and stress you might be feeling. When students get involved in art or music classes there is also a strong sense of creativity that students build. They also will build self confidence, and a wonderful output for any stress.
Eng. 070 Jasmine Cotts
On the East side of Aurora for example there are many kids that get involved in the wrong things because they do not get involved in school. Whether it be getting involved in gangs or even hanging around with the wrong type of people. The only way they can achieve getting involved in school is through joining clubs or sports. Also, according to John H. Holloway, a consultant with the Educational Testing Service, if a student is involved in some sort of extracurricular activity they are less likely to drop out of school. This is more likely among ethnic minoritys. I think that is a great reason to fight to keep these activities around in those low budget schools. Students being involved in these activities, makes all the difference. Even one sport that motivates them physically will affect them. They know what it takes to succeed.
Also certain states are starting to enact a No pass/ No play Law. Now I do not think this is a bad idea for fixing a little bit of the issues. This should help motivate students to try harder in their classes. This could have a negative effect also. Some students might find this intimidating and therefore not get involved. So this like many proposals could be a win or lose situation.
According to the Health care foundation of New Jersey, school districts in 34 states are asking parents to pay fifty to one-hundred dollars in order to keep extracurricular activities. Now this is a good idea, in order to insure that their kids can be involved. The one problem is some people cannot afford to even buy their kids lunch for school, much less pay for them to join sports. The one thing that must be kept in mind is that the low budget schools are probably in a low income areas. Many of the parents can
Eng. 070 Jasmine Cotts
not afford to be spending money on this, but they should be offered the same educational opportunities as every other school. The students should be able to have the option to get
involved. Many parents might even be outraged at the fact that they would have to pay so much money for their kids to have something that is usually offered to other student in other schools. So therefore I don't think that this idea is as good as it could be.
I would recommend to have a sporting event or some sort of activity in which you can raise money solely for this cause. Therefore people will be able to see what there money is going to. Also so that those who cannot afford to even pay the fee for the activities will not have to worry about it. So that those in the community who can afford to give that little bit of money can make the difference. It should not cost the school much to give this extra effort to save these activities. It would have to be like a community project though and require effort not solely from the school.
Well this is not the simplest issue to fix and I am not completely sure if my proposal is any where near perfect, but this should be a community issue that requires community effort. After school activities and non-general education classes should be saved. They should not just be cut. They should be considered just as important as the general classes. It will just take a lot of extra effort from everyone effected or involved.
