Which is important for professional excellence, extracurricular activity or academic achievement.?Well to answer this question, one has to look into the role of academics and extracurricular activities in preparing an individual for his professional career. However, it should be recognized that academics and extracurricular activities seek to inculcate different aspects of skills and knowledge, appropriate with the growth of the individual, focusing on its ultimate benefit of professional excellence.
While academics include varied subjects including science and math, the extracurricular activities also include varied topics like physical training and cultural activities.Although academic subjects are taught in a classroom environment, its effectiveness is largely on an individual basis. All individuals have varying levels of perception and the teacher may sometime have to look individually.Studying involves learning, which is individual specific, where students have to concentrate and perceive independently.
They master the topics of study, which would be directly applied to their profession, some day.Extracurricular activities offer students more opportunities to socialize and compete directly. Apart from learning to work in teams, they develop social skills and experience competition at an individual and team basis.These activities play a crucial role in preparing the individual for team working and sharing, essential in the professional environment.
The individuals would find it easy to develop and maintain healthy work relationships.Academics directly contribute to the intellectual development of individuals. As they concentrate and analyze their subjects, they begin to recognize developing situations in life.With time, they learn to determine the causes and provide solutions to the difficulties they face. A good academic background provides confidence or a sense of mastery in a professional environment.Extracurricular opportunities like physical training, sports and games are more directed to keeping students physically fit.
Physical fitness is very important, as it helps them to stay alert while being able to thwart off sickness. This in turn would help them to physically meet the demands of the work environment, they would later face.The relevance of academics in professional life is definitely important, as it’s the core source of knowledge and skills, required to meet the demands of the profession.It is always important for people to keep updating themselves of the trends and developments taking place in the their professional field even after joining a profession. Continuing education, e-learning help individuals to keep abreast of the developments. The social skills, acquired through extracurricular activities, helps one succeed in his or her profession, in several ways.
They help in motivating individuals to seek new things that would help them in their profession. A sense of responsibility and determination, inculcated by appropriate extracurricular activities, helps to keep them competitive with a positive mental attitude.Given the facts behind academics and extracurricular activities, it is obvious that both are very important and both have important roles to play for a successful professional career.Both of these have distinct roles, roles that are clearly distinct, and cannot be substituted. It is important for individuals to be raised with emphasis on both, academics and extracurricular activities to make a complete individual and a perfect professional. It is unfortunate that the benefits of extracurricular activities are not clearly evident as that of academics.
Individuals can succeed to higher levels only when their sociability, attitude and physical wellness are acceptable, irrespective of their academic credentials. Therefore educators, particularly in the teaching community, must be careful to inculcate and emphasize on both, in the curriculum.
