I agree with the statement that students who are enrolled full time at the university should participate in a range of extra-curricular activities besides studying. A number of arguments surround my opinion.
Firstly, participating in extracurricular activities benefits students academically. One of these reasons is that students learn character-building lessons, which they can apply to their study habits and to their lives. Activities such as athletics, music, and theater teach students how to discipline themselves through drills, practices, or rehearsals. What is more, by participating and persevering in any of these activities, the students gain a sense of self-respect, self-esteem, and self-confidence.
Through extracurricular activities, students learn life skills such as time management that benefit them a lot. These activities take time out of the students’ schedules, therefore the students must plan their time wisely and efficiently to complete the assigned tasks. In addition to organizational skills, extracurricular activities in the arts teach students analytical skills and creative problem-solving skills, since they have to think creatively to successfully perform music, act in a play, or produce a work of art.
Furthermore, education is not solely learned by reading the textbook, for students can learn an incredible amount from their peers through extracurricular activities. Students learn how to compromise and work in a group. Extracurricular activities also allow students to meet and interact with peers that may not be within their close group of friends. In addition, extracurricular activities help to enhance these social skills and teach lessons not learned in a classroom. Although these social aspects of a student’s life do not directly affect his or her grade point average, they do affect the overall well-being of the student. Finally, it is well known that nowadays, even recruiters look for social skills in addition to academic qualifications while looking for employees.
To sum up, I would like to reiterate my opinion that students at university should not just be engrossed in their books, but also do many other activities because these help students to receive better grades by teaching them character building lessons, teaching them lifelong skills, and helping students develop social skills.