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The benefits of extracurricular activities
Importance of extracurricular activities and academic performance
Importance of sports on academic performance
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As a school system’s budget decreases, extracurricular activities are bound to get cut. Among these are are athletics and the arts. When choosing between the two, the solution is obvious, cut sports. With academic and psychological benefits, arts programs are noticeably more vital to a student’s life. To start with, the arts help foster a student’s academic success. In “Pacific Standard”, Tom Jacobs wrote that, “Musically active adolescents obtain better school grades in languages.” (Jacobs, 1). To be fair, some may suggest that students in athletics tend to do better in mathematics courses. However, “...the degree of difference is not statistically significant.” (Jacobs, 1). Our languages play a key role in society, and cutting off
Typically, the average day of a high school student consists of seven long hours of school; followed by an extracurricular activity. According to the National Federation of State High School Association (NFHS), as of 2014, there was a record high of nearly 7.8 million high school student athletes in the United States. Two experienced authors from The New York Times have contrasting views on athletics in schools. Amanda Ripley, the author of The New York Times bestseller, The Smartest Kids in the World, argues that sports should definitely be removed from high schools across the country. On the other hand, Donte Stallworth, former NFL player, is determined to keep children involved with sports. The main focal point for both Ripley and Stallworth
The fine arts were once highly revered by the community and were a part of everyday life, yet today the fine arts must face their biggest competitor, that being sports. Sports have become a big business and many schools find it easier and better to cut arts programs due to low funding rather than athletic programs. Even though fine arts programs are not as profitable as athletic programs, they should be funded equally to athletic programs because they help student achievement, help students improve their cognitive skills, and encourage creativity.
These areas could reach beyond the academics, which Ripley touches on, and into other extra-curricular activities. In high school, I was extremely involved in theatre and speech and debate, as well as choir. Even in my small school our already small programs felt the effects of budget cuts. Yet, I never saw evidence of any financial struggle for the sports teams. While our theatre program could not afford microphones for our school musical and our science classrooms had not received updated textbooks in nearly a decade, the football and volleyball teams were given all new uniforms, even though the old ones were only a year or two old. Our school often spoke of the financial struggles they felt, yet the budgets for sports were never up for debate. Ripley talks about the benefits of high-school sports, and while I cannot deny that it is important to value “exercise, lessons in sportsmanship and perseverance, school spirit, and just plain fun” (3), it’s not worth the sacrifices the schools must make to have sports. That mentality also suggests that playing sports is the only way to gain certain life skills; however, someone might learn about teamwork from being in a play or doing a group project in school. School spirit could be encouraged through pep assemblies. There are several other ways to gain the same values without sports being involved in a school
Many schools consider art, music, and physical education programs ‘fluff’ classes, which is why when schools are looking for a place to save money those are some of the programs that are first to go. Claire Suggs, Senior Education Policy Analysts for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, found that “about 42 percent of districts are reducing or eliminating art or music programs and 62 percent are eliminating elective courses” (“Cutting Class” #1). Art and music programs should not be cut because they allow students to explore their creativity and improve problem solving skills. On the
Sports are the downgrade of society and should be ultimately removed. We would like to propose the removal of sports at our school. Sports distract people from school, cause serious injuries, and give kids false hope of college scholarships. If we don’t remove sports from our school it could cause our future generation to not be able to obtain a proper education and be successful in their future. If we don’t take sports out of our school, then there will be more problems with our kids health and their lives.
In today’s public education system fine arts and physical education classes are considered to be inferior to the core classes. Because math and English classes are considered more important, not enough money is put aside to fund the arts and PE, or the elective classes. In order to fix the problem of arts and physical education being considered inferior to core classes more emphasis and more money should be given to PE, arts, and humanities so that they are of equal importance as the core subjects.
Many people do not realize the positive effect that popular music has on children. At a young age one of the breakthroughs for children is music’s benefit for language development. According to the Children’s Music Workshop, the effect of music education on language development can be seen in the brain. Studies have indicated that musical training develops the left side of the brain known to be involved in processing language and can actually wire the brain’s circuits in specific ways. The relation between both music and language development can also have advantages children. Listening to music can also improve children test scores and IQ levels. Dr. Schellenberg found that a small increase in the IQs of six year olds who were given weekly vocal and piano lessons. This leads to the fact that music is very helpful when it comes to education. Professor Christopher Johnson revealed that students in elementary schools with better music education programs sc...
When schools make budget cuts, they usually take money from athletic programs and clubs. The author is essentially saying that schools have taken away funding from too many programs that it feels as if they will will even stop funding necessary programs in order to say money. This critique on budget cuts helps us see the problem within the public school system. Certain activities that are common in other schools will be seen as a luxury to students in other schools and therefor are not given the same opportunities. The underfunded schools have taken away money from many programs that they will now have to stop funding certain areas that are key to a student’s education.
“Recent studies show that being involved in music classes makes it easier to learn other subjects and improve skills in other classrooms” (Brown, “The Benefits of Music Education”). A lot of people tend to overlook how much music education has an impact on the success of a student. Because of this, schools should be required to offer fine arts and music classes as electives for the students. Not only will this improve the students test scores, but it will also give the students a broader imagination and more creativity in and out of the classroom. In a lot of schools, fine arts and musical classes are the first to go when there are budget cuts. “Seventy-one percent of the nation’s fifteen thousand school districts have cut instructional hours spent on music and other subjects” (“State of the arts: should music and art classes be brushed aside”). Not only is it affecting the teachers who have specialized in the study of fine arts, it is affecting all of the students and parents who are actively involved in these programs. “Johnson, professor of music education and music therapy and associate dean of the School of Fine Arts at KU, found jumps of twenty-two percent in English test scores and twenty percent in math scores at elementary schools with superior music education” (Lynch “Music Boosts Test Scores”). With that being said, schools should be required to offer music and fine arts classes as an elective for their students.
“core classes curricular classes will always be safe. sports programs are often cut or downsized when school districts need money, but cutting these types of programs usually results in an outcry from the community and oftentimes becomes a rallying point in a school board election” (Dickson) The arts need to not be afraid of being cut from the school and are able to make kids want to stay in
She strongly considers that the school should use their money on programs that would, in her opinion, actually benefit the rest of the school. Based on Tamar Lewin’s hypothesis in his article College Increases Spending on Sports Faster than on Academics, he proclaims, “Increasingly, institutions of higher education have lost their focus on the academic activities at the core of their mission…The spending priority accorded to competitive athletics too easily diverts the focus of our institutions from teaching and learning to scandal and excess”. Although this article bases their information off college spending, the same can be said about high schools. High schools are putting off aside other extracurricular activities and give special importance to huge, likable sports like football, basketball, soccer, and
Fine arts classes benefit students and schools alike. Fine arts are needed courses, not just as electives but as core classes that promote learning and creativity in the lives of students. There are three different styles of learning: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Fine art provides an avenue for all of these learning styles to be utilized during one class period; therefore, all students are able to understand and benefit from the curriculum. In a normal academic setting all types of learning may not be used, so a percentage of the classroom will not understand the lessons as well as it could have if it had arts incorporated into the class. It may seem impossible to include arts into an academic setting, but it is possible, effective, and fun. According to Barry Oreck, it has been proven that students learning molecular bonding through a dance had a more proficient understanding of the concept. He states, “We have found that if you learn something through a theater game, you can still answer a test question” (new horizons Dickerson 3). This statement proves that arts are extremely important and beneficial. With fine arts, students have a safe environment to express themselves, a motivation to stay in school, and higher test scores. The fact that fine arts are needed is evident, but will schools respond or live in denial?
“Every student in the nation should have an education in the arts.” This is the opening statement of “The Value and Quality of Arts Education: A Statement of Principles,” a document from the nation’s ten most important educational organizations. The basic message is that music and art programs in the schools help our kids and communities in real and substantial ways. There is an abundant amount of facts and information that supports this statement. The benefits of arts education can be narrowed down into 4 basic categories: success in developing intelligence, success in ...
Sports programs have been an integral part of all schools. They support the academics of the school and therefore foster success in life. These programs are educational and help produce productive citizenship. They help students experience and build skills that may help them in their future, like interpersonal and time management skills. Education may kindle the light of knowledge, but sports help to maintain the proper physique. Sports are also an important means of entertainment and a use for energy after long hours of study. Sports increase a student’s performance not only in the classroom but also in their life.
Art and its education are crucial in the development of young children. Therefore, it is of the upmost importance to ensure that our young children are being taught about art and its education in order for them to be successful contributing members of society. June Vail, a professor of dance at Bowdoin College explains, “The arts bring energy and creativity, a kind of learning that can only enhance every other kind of learning. (Vail).” She continues by saying that, “The enterprise of a liberal arts education is integrative, to educate students to be creative and flexible, to harness their energy in a different way (Vail).” Art begins to lay the foundation of success early for young children by developing their motor skills through paining with a paintbrush and drawing with crayons. Furthermore, it also helps promote language development by learning new shapes, colors, and allows them to describe their artistic creation. Lastly, it also helps children improve academically. A report that was done by the Americans for the Arts demonstrates that young people who participated regularly in the arts are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, participate in a math or science fair, or win an award for writing an essay as opposed to students who do not participate in the arts (PBS). As a result of this, it is imperative to ensure that adolescent children of today begin