Why are extra-curricular activities important?

‘See ya’ at 3:15; always meant one of two things and very often both in the days when we were in high school. It was a gentleman’s appointment for an afternoon fistfight or more likely, a date for participating in extracurricular activities- which are the topic of the View this week.

We go to school to learn. When someone gets a good grade, it is a great success! Passing exams are essential, especially to go up the ladder in our education system. To pass exams, to get good grades and high scores, to get perform well in class, one has to be really devoted to school work. Is that all there is to education?
A lot is taught in class: languages, mathematics, biology, geography, history, etc… How much of it can you apply in your daily life? Think. You would use the language skills to pass information to other people, but do you learn how to convince people or make you an effective communicator? Your maths and economics lessons would come useful when getting your change from the taxi conductor and maybe calculate your monthly expenditures, but do you learn how to earn money? History can teach you what has happened in the past, but does it teach you leadership skills or human relations? Maybe yes, if you learned those skills and developed those qualities in class, but does going to class allow you to practice and exercise those qualities? Not really. Here is where extra-curricular activities come to play a big role. Classrooms give you knowledge and skills, and the many activities you do outside the classroom give you the arena to apply them in real life. Keep on reading if you are wondering how.
Many students play football as a leisure activity. Do you know that football teaches you many qualities without you even realizing them? First you exercise your communication skills by sending quick and short messages to others, asking for the ball to be passed, you calculate times and distances. Second you learn teamwork, working with other people with the same purpose without conflict. Third, you build up determination, competitiveness, focus, and leadership skills if you are the captain. This is just one activity; imagine the amount of skills you can develop by doing many other activities? By debating you can figure out different ways of convincing people, ways of attracting people's attentions, techniques to impress people using your words. By doing some community service, you see how much privileged you are, you learn caring and compassion for others, you see the problems people face and see how you can help solve them in the future.
Through such activities, you can gain a lot of experience, which will help you gain admission to universities around the world, help you in your work place, or even get you a job! Yes I said even get a job. When I was in school, I used to run a newspaper, and after that, I was offered a job at a newspaper company. Skills you develop in school give you an upper hand when comparing with other applicants. You have more experience, more knowledge, more insight compared to someone who just has grades and scores to show.
The numbers of extracurricular activities you can do are limitless. You can do sports like football, basketball, netball, volleyball, tennis, table tennis, athletics, cross-country, cricket, rugby, pool, swimming, dodge ball, hockey, and many other more. You can join debating clubs, write for the school magazine or school newspaper, public speaking, Youth United Nations, visit orphanages, clean the streets, plant trees, do fundraising projects, etc… If you are out of ideas, talk to your friends and you may come up with something.
Some students would say that there are no such clubs or resources. Be creative, if you really want to be doing an activity then start it up! Talk to your friends, get some teachers who might help you, and start it up. If it is not possible in school, then try outside school. Try your best to at least get involved in an activity. If, for example, you are interested in community service, look for an orphanage and spend an hour every week teaching the orphans and playing with them! You get to experience a lot, and it would mean the world to them when they see that someone cares! Environmental club can be established to go around and plant trees. There are many more activities you can do in school, college, university, and anywhere.
School work is important, and do not compromise that. But time should not be your excuse either. We all have different schedules, but if we want to make time we certainly can.
You can go to classes and take many courses, but they do not make you who you are. What you do outside the classroom gives you the personality you have, gains you qualities, gives you strengths and weaknesses. That is what helps you fit in society, not your maths lessons.