The Importance of Extracurricular Activities for Low Income Schools by Brendan Schilling

            Every school has extracurricular activities. Some schools have a wide array of activities like swimming, badminton, debate, math club, and even shop. However, other schools have a very small amount of choices that usually don’t include clubs involving art, skipping some sports, excluding academic clubs, and any other miscellaneous club or sport. I think that the schools with very limited extracurricular activities hinder the students greatly. Students that participate in extracurricular activities feel more connected and care more about school, gain leadership qualities, learn to cooperate with others, and improve their overall grades in school. Especially the low poverty areas where students need something to do to keep them away from trouble/gangs. Can you imagine what it would be like to attend a high school with only four sports and three academic clubs offered? Those teams and clubs would fill up quick and students who want to participate in extracurricular activities now have nothing to do.

During the fall when I had no extracurricular activities besides concerts I would just go home and play video games. I live in middle to upper class area. There is no violence in my area and it would be very hard to get in trouble. Also factor in that most of my friends and most of the students that attended my school didn’t get in trouble. Now what if I lived in a low socioeconomic area where there were gangs. I would leave school and then do what? You most likely don’t have enough money to afford video games or to go to several places like the movie theater. Also, since either parents or single parent would typically be at work they would still be gone when their child finishes school. The students are unsupervised and have total freedom after school ends. A lot of mischievous can happen during those time periods. I know I would want to hang out with my friends if I had nothing to do and those friends of mine may want to get into trouble/do illegal things. Based on Nikki Wilson’s research paper she states how participation in high school activities results in reduced delinquency and less engagement in risky behaviors (Wilson, 2009, p. 3). This is because by the time students finish the extracurricular activity their parents will be home. Also, it motivates students to do well in school so it doesn’t impact their participation in extracurricular activities. This can lead to the student graduating and gaining a good work ethic to balance school and extracurricular activities.

However, I can’t avoid including that also in her research paper she stated that students on sports teams tend to have a higher chance to drink compared to non-athletic students (Wilson, 2009, p. 24). This was the same at my school. If the students are going to be drinking no matter what they can at least do it supervised. What I mean by this is that there are parents present in the house. A way to avoid athletic students drinking altogether is to have the coach keep watch on what the players are doing. If the coach thinks or knows some of the players are drinking he can bench them. If the player really cares about the team he/she will fix their behavior. He also should obviously inform the parents of what is going on, which may also help fix the issue depending on the parents.

Besides sports, the other extracurricular activities like band, academic clubs, and even volunteer jobs, if you count that as extracurricular, have little to no downside. All these types of activities result in students having a higher grade-point average, higher chance of graduating, more likely to attend college and greater enjoyment from school (Wilson, 2009, p. 24-26).

The greater enjoyment from school is the most important aspect that these activities hold. In Jilann Bush’s research paper she talks about how students with stronger connection to school and are more engaged in school activities are less antisocial and leads to a higher chance of graduating. Students who are more antisocial tend to hate being at school and have a higher chance of dropping out (Bush, 2003, p. 11). I also believe students need a motivation to want to go to school. Students in low income areas might not want to go to school because it’s boring, they don’t feel safe being in the school, they are failing and don’t see the point, or maybe they feel like they don’t belong at all. However, extracurricular activities give you a sense of belonging something and being accepted by others. I felt that my teammates and the people that sat next to me in band accepted me for who I really am compared to classmates in classes I took. It gives you motivation to be yourself more and ignore the peer pressure from others. By doing this it makes school more enjoyable since you aren’t trying to change yourself to fit in. This is particularly huge in poor areas because students may peer pressure others to do illegal things when they really don’t want to and once you start down the wrong road it can be very difficult to get off.         

As well, graduation is very important for students to achieve and to come out with a good set of values that will keep them out of trouble if they choose to not go to college. One of the statistical facts in Bush’s research paper is, “students in the lowest 20 percent of the income distribution are more likely to drop out than students with higher socioeconomic status” (Bush, 2003, p. 4-5). It can be hard to find a job without a college degree. How would a person find a job without a high school degree? There are jobs that require basic math, reading, and writing in order to do the job.

So how do we get more extracurricular activities in low income schools so students can have more opportunities to keep themselves away from trouble and give them a greater chance to graduate with good values?

The first thought that came in my mind is to utilize volunteers. Get the community involved to possibly fundraise some money to get some low cost equipment. Then ask for volunteers from the community to help supervise the activity or if the school feels like some of the students are mature enough to help lead the club. Obviously official sport teams need an actual coach and equipment to use, but not all schools need to offer all the official IHSA sports. Intramural sports can be great like tag football. It helps students build on their teamwork skills and can lead to some developing leadership skills. In-school tournaments can be held like dodgeball to spike up competition. It certainly works well at Concordia. Video game clubs, anime clubs, book clubs, academic clubs, and other clubs that are similar to this can be easier to find volunteers for. They require fewer resources (except for video game club) and teachers of the subject area can lead academic clubs. Essentially it all comes down to how persuasive the school can be to get the community involved. I would hate to see students waste their potential by getting involved with the wrong people because they have nothing else to do. It may take a while to build the infrastructure for volunteer led extracurricular activities, but it would definitely be worth it for those low income schools.

Resources:

Bush '03, Jilann M. (2003). The Effect of Extracurricular Activities on School Dropout. Honors Projects. Paper 16.http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/psych_honproj/16

Wilson, Nikki L. (2009). Impact of Extracurricular Activities on Students. Research paper. http://www2.uwstout.edu/content/lib/thesis/2009/2009wilsonn.pdf