Many factors influence the development and socialization of American students including peers, family, the media, and schools. Even though peers and family provide the prevailing influences, the context and opportunities provided by schools also influence student development. Direct interactions with the academic curriculum in schools, such as the degree of failure or success in several subject matters and the degree of support provided for academic effort, influence the aspirations, self-esteem, and values of students.By bringing together students into large groups, school provides a foremost structural framework for peer group interactions during adolescence.
Through the pattern of extracurricular activities school permit or prohibit, inhibit or facilitate, and the pattern of intangible and tangible rewards endowed for participation in activities, schools influence personality development and socialization. Research shows that indulgence in extracurricular activities impinges on students’ academic performance.More specifically, studies have been made understanding the effects of specific extracurricular activities on academic performance. Extras such as music, parental involvement, sports—all of these possess profound influences on how children fare in school.
The manner in which children opt to use their spare time can affect their performance in school; it is not the plain conventional classroom instruction that influences academic achievement.A study by the U. S. Department of Education revealed that students who participate in co-curricular activities are three times more likely to have a grade point average of 3. 0 or better than students who do not involve themselves in co-curricular activities. In addition to co-curricular or extracurricular activities, “analyses revealed that regardless of students’ background and prior achievement, various parenting, volunteering, and home learning activities positively influenced student grades” (Simon, 2001, para.
1).Several researches have keenly scrutinized the factors which contribute to students’ academic achievement, and many activities were found to possess profound influences. According to BUGS (Bringing Up Girls in Science), a program for young girls and their parents at the University of North Texas, “the atmosphere at home is among the most significant influences on academic performance” (Bringing Up Girls in Science, 2003, para. 2). A correlation appears to surface between the activities that students opt to attend outside of the classroom and their academic standing.
One of the prevailing yet unproven controversies is the implication that television viewing of students has on their academic achievement. The correlation between television viewing and cognitive development has been the one most studied. Investigators strongly dispute about the effects of this relationship. The frequency of television viewing and family involvement are not the only factors that influence the students’ academic performance. The effects of music and sports also deserve to be emphasized in their relation to academic performance.School principals are interested in the relationship between academic achievement and involvement in inter-school sports at middle level schools, insinuating that sports do have some influence on how students perform in their subjects.
All of these activities appear to have some sort of effect on students’ academic performance; however, the issue of whether they are beneficial or a hindrance is undetermined. The research would be deemed as a descriptive study, the reason being is that it meticulously views behaviors as they occur naturally, describes behavior, explores a phenomenon, and tests hypotheses about behavior.And thus, the aim of this research study is to resolve whether or not the co-curricular activities that students choose affect their performance in school. The advent of extracurricular activities was gradual in the beginning, with many perceiving it merely as a trend that would pass and be unrecognized thereafter.
One of the early assumptions behind extracurricular activities was that they must, by all means, get out of traditional academic endeavors and revert back to curricular activities to enhance them.Surprisingly, people, including educators, began to see the good implications of extracurricular activities, but it took a little while to accustom themselves to them. Stating a fact, before the turn of the 20th century, educators were doubtful of involvement in extracurricular activities, adhering to the notion that “school should focus solely on narrowly defined academic outcomes. Non-academic activities were seen as being only leisurely and therefore were disadvantageous to academic progression, and consequently were not at all suggested” (Marsh & Kleitman, 2002, para. ).Early proponents of extracurricular activities had suggested that extracurricular activities suffice and extend those contacts and experiences found in the more formal part of the program of the school day.
It was not until in recent times that “educational practitioners and researchers have taken a more positive approach, disputing that extracurricular activities may have positive effects on life skills and may also complement academic excellence” (Marsh & Kleitman, 2002, para. 5).It is apparent that extracurricular activities have a reflective effect on academic performance and education ever since their acquisition into academic programs. The question is - how are extracurricular activities changing academic performance and standing today? Countless studies have been made regarding the correlation between extracurricular activities and academic performance. Guest and Schneider (2003), in investigating at the previous research on this subject uttered, “Researchers have found positive relevance between extracurricular participation and academic achievement” (para.
).Although researchers agree that extracurricular activities do, in fact, influence academic performance, the specific effect that various activities produce is debated. One study, carried out by the National Educational Longitudinal Study, found that involvement in some activities improves achievement, while participation in others reduces achievement. Many extracurricular activities have been tested as favorable in building and increasing academic development, even if the activities are not at all connected to academics (Marsh & Kleitman, 2002, para.
).“A number of studies revealed that students participating in extracurricular activities did better academically than students who did not participate” (Marsh & Kleitman, 2002, para. 7). Researchers have studied the correlation between extracurricular activities and academic performance in adolescents. One particular study proved that “adolescents who participated in extracurricular activities reported higher marks, more positive perceptions concerning school, and higher academic aspirations” (Darling, Caldwell, & Smith, 2005, para.
1).Darling, Caldwell, and Smith (2005) carried out a longitudinal study about extracurricular activities and their effect on different facets of development, including academic faring. A survey containing a list of twenty different extracurricular activities was distributed among students; they were asked to check which extracurricular activities they participated in that year. Demographic questions, such as their favorite activity, gender, and ethnicity were asked in order to take the social factors and influences into account when calculating the results.The students were also asked what their academic goals were and their grade point average.
The results blatantly stated that the students who were involved in school-based extracurricular activities had considerably higher grades, higher academic aspirations, and better academic viewpoints than those who were not involved at all in extracurricular activities at all (Para. 23-35). Several researchers have categorized extracurricular activities into two - informal and formal activities.The formal activities comprise activities which are relatively structured or considered as somewhat “mainstream” or traditional, such as participating in athletics or learning to play a particular musical instrument. On the other hand, informal activities, also known as recreation, include less structured and less conventional activities, and example of such is watching television.
Some literature on leisure studies has “suggested that formal and informal activity settings have different influences on motivation and feelings of competence,” two factors which influence academic performance (Guest & Schneider, 2003, para. 8).One study had proven “that more time in leisure activities was related to lower academic grades, poorer work ethics, and poorer emotional aptitude,” while more time spent in “structured traditional groups and lessened time watching TV were identified with higher test scores and school grades” (Marsh & Kleitman, 2002, para. 15). Guest and Schneider (2003), in their research, found that “the kind of involvement or activity undertaken affects developmental results (Para. 8).
With this comes the “what” factor and is the concern of this research project. Their varying effects have “differed substantially for different endeavors (activities).There was a sum of 76 statistically significant effects, 58 positive and 18 negative” (Marsh & Kleitman, 2002, para. 11).
In general, students who take part in extracurricular activities gain academically. Students, parents, teachers, and school administrators all need to be conscious of the effects that partaking in extracurricular activities has on the academic performance of students. Nonetheless, they also have to have an awareness of the definite extracurricular activities available and suitable to them and the impact that each specific activity can inflict on performance.No two children will be deemed as advantaged or be disadvantaged in the same way that studies revealed concerning extracurricular activities.
Each student pours out his efforts at his or her own level of capability and ability and one cannot anticipate unnecessary amounts of academic abilities from a child just because he or she is deeply immersed in several extracurricular activities. Parents should come into the realization that they should not force their children into involving themselves in activities for the lone aim of enhancing their academic performance. Children have varying likes, dislikes, and interests.There are a number of extracurricular activities that they will find enjoyable and others that will not fit their likes and personal abilities.
Parents need to have knowledge of where their students’ interests and abilities dwell and permit them to be involved in those, if they opt to. In the same manner, parents should not prohibit their children from involving themselves in any particular extracurricular. Involvement in such activities has the chance of equipping the child’s being, aside from developing academic facet—it also helps them in honing social interactions, life viewpoints, and talents.Extracurricular activities portray a significant role in the scholastic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, physical, and cognitive progression of children, and every child should be blessed with the chance to participate and show their potentials in at least one co-curricular activity that perfectly adopts to his or her personality and interests. In turn, these activities, however, should be aimed toward the enhancing of their capabilities and should be mixed up with some mental and/or physical ability.
The so-called extra-curricular activity of television watching is not at all a beneficial activity and should be limited, by all means.Parents should give their children some leeway in finding which activities to get them involved in, but still need to attentively supervise how their children spend their time. In the academic development of their children, the parents play the most important role next to the children themselves and one way of forging a strong and sturdy academic faring is by insightfully encouraging their young children to become involved in some of the activities which are proven to further bolster academic performance. This could greatly influence their choices and decision-making later on in life and may set the framework for a life full of achievements.
