It’s Monday. You wake up at your usual time – 6 a.m. – and rush out the door to get to school, where you turn in the piles of homework you completed over the weekend and take all the tests you’ve been freaking out about. When the last bell rings, you begin the race to change your clothes and gather your things before your soccer practice starts. From there, you head to your Broward College class and dread all of the homework you’re going to have to do when you get home. When you’re finally in bed at 1 a.m. (if you’re lucky), you go through your schedule for the next day, for the next week, for the next month and wonder: when are you ever going to get a break?
This scenario is not unfamiliar to most high school students. In order to get accepted into college and make the most of the time spent in high school, most pack their schedules with clubs, classes, and part-time jobs. These extracurricular activities are a wonderful thing to be a part of in high school and can be very deeply rewarding. They allow you to dive into what you love, gain skills for the future and show colleges that you’re involved in your school.
Despite the perceived benefits, these activities have the tendency to take over a student’s life, leaving them with very little time for homework, part-time jobs or even sleep. There should be time limits placed on the clubs and extracurricular activities at CCHS to make sure that everyone has the ability to follow all of their passions while maintaining their health and grades.
Most clubs require many hours of commitment per week as the dedication is necessary to be successful, whether it be in winning a game, placing in a competition or preparing for an event. While this is understandable, clubs can sometimes go overboard with the amount of practices and rehearsals scheduled in one week, causing an abundance of issues for those who are a part of them.
It can be very hard to maintain one’s grades when so much time is devoted to a particular club. Students can spend hours every night doing homework and studying, especially those in AP or honors classes. On top of this, many have to devote time each day to preparing for college readiness tests such as the ACT or SAT. Most students will agree that academics are more important than extra curriculars, however, students shouldn’t have to choose between the two in order to be successful. If members of a club begin to feel suffocated by their homework due to all the time they spend at practice, it is essential that a limit be placed on these hours to ensure that everyone can be successful.
Clubs that take up a large amount of time can also force students to choose between passions. For example, if a student is in love with both athletics and the arts, they may have a hard time participating in both due to the time commitment that each requires. Since many extra curriculars hold practices almost every day, conflicting schedules are almost entirely unavoidable. It is also almost impossible to balance multiple clubs without having to be less committed to each activity. Being in theatre and wrestling may lead to missing a rehearsal for a practice and vice versa, thus limiting the amount that one can thrive in either activity.
On top of this, some students may have to give up a club that they are interested in because the time commitment doesn’t comply with their job. This takes away the opportunity for financially struggling students to reap the benefits of clubs.
If a weekly time limit was placed on extra curricular activities, each student would have the ability to thrive in what they are apart of and follow each and every one of their goals and interests. Whether one loves band and football, works a part time job or simply wants to go above and beyond in academics, each student should have the opportunity to do what they love.
Photo by Casey Chapter
