October 17, 2022
I've been reading several argumentative essays by several writers here like Eunoia, and Denmarc, followed by Jijisaur and probably Usagi is now doing the same, and I guess that's a good way to beat writer's block. Additionally, the topics they choose make sense which gives good quality to their content. This initiative is commendable and recommendable to others, and this could at least, contribute more sensible content to this platform.
Although I don't intend to take part in this initiative regularly, I do like making some when I want to. In fact, I have posted a few recently if you guys have noticed them. It coincidentally happened that the other day, I saw this bunch of primary students from our window doing exercises in this large field. The students started the day by running around the field for several cycles before doing other activities and exercises. Then the picture formed a question in my mind.
Why Do Parents Need To Encourage Their Children To Engage In Extracurricular Activities?
Back in the day when I was in primary, I wished to participate in more extracurricular activities in our school, but my mother wasn't that supportive as she prefer for me to help her in taking care of my siblings during my off-school days. My only time to do other activities in school was during our Physical Education lessons. I never had a chance to join any girl scouts' school camping which I truly wished to experience back then as there were a lot of activities carried out for a certain period. Thus, having fun while out of school.
Now back to the question.
It is undoubtedly true that school extracurricular activities can help develop students' cognitive and other skills. Participating in sports, for instance, could help students acquire fit bodies and enhance more skills while in the process. And anyone can undeniably enjoy joining any kind of sports activity in school.
This is actually a great way to unleash those hidden abilities or special skills of students that they never thought they had.
Back in the day when I was in primary four if my mind serves me right, our art teacher required us to draw the portrait of the President of the Philippines that was displayed right above our class board. That memory is still vividly clear in my mind, and the person in the portrait was former president Joseph Estrada. After submitting all the artwork, my teacher noticed mine and she praised my talent.
That was when I checked back my work and noticed that I drew our president well compared to my other classmates. But I didn't really care much about it. Another activity was done, I was in primary five at that time, wherein we drew something from a book as required by our Math teacher, and the result surprised her that even my classmates liked it as I almost copied the exact photo. When some of my teachers noticed my skill, they suggested I join the art competition for a school event. My art piece won the second rank in that competition with the theme, Technology. That's when I started to become more interested in art, and I liked watching others drawing too.
When different activities are given, students require to use their thinking skills to solve or create given tasks. That's how cognitive skills are activated. Moreover, young students are curious and they want to explore and learn new things. The more activities they have, the more skills are being developed.
That's the main reason why a lot of parents are enrolling their kids in different learning centers while they are still young because it's the developmental stage of their minds, and the possibility to enhance hidden skills is high. Although passion and talents can be developed as we age, it is still better if students could unleash them while they are young so they could develop them more which can be beneficial in their studies.
It's not just cognitive skills that can be developed here but also social skills, as activities require teamwork. If all students engage in extracurricular activities, then there'll be fewer introverted students and their self-confidence can be enhanced as well. And most importantly, they will learn how important it is to work as a team and have healthy competition.
The only issue that can be seen here is not all parents are supportive of this matter as they thought it required more money as well. This is unfortunately true in some schools, even in the Philippines. If only the Department of Education could offer more free activities that could help students develop their skills, especially for those in public primary schools, then more kids would grow up skillful, confident, and competitive.
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There are now schools that focuses more in developing the basic skills of the young learners. Including socialization skills. They have their own curriculum though. Unorthodox, and different from DepEd's curriculum. But I think, I like their program.