School-based activities that are not in the academic mainstream at both the elementary and secondary levels are, unfortunately, referred to as “extra-curricular,” as if they are something tacked on to the regular curriculum — an afterthought and not a serious part of the school program.
This is unfortunate because today’s kids deserve the opportunity to benefit from a wide array of quality experiences well beyond the narrow confines of the traditional curricular offerings.
I say “unfortunate” because participation by kids of all ages in extra-curricular activities, from sports to science and math clubs to band, drama and arts, yields a range of well-documented advantages, both mental and physical.
A 2019 study from the University of British Columbia found that kids who take up extra-curricular activities, especially team-based ones, showed more positive mental-health indicators, such as a stronger sense of optimism and more satisfaction with life.
Lead author Eva Oberle, assistant professor in the UBC School of Population and Public Health, said her research team surveyed over 10,000 students in Grade 4, and again when they reached Grade 7.
The kids were questioned about their well-being, their mental health, their relationships and also about what kind of structured, organized, after-school activities they chose.
The survey included children who didn’t participate in any extracurricular activities, those that participated in everything, those who mainly did sports and those who did individual activities like music lessons or tutoring.
“What we found was that, over time, the kids who did nothing in Grade 4 but by Grade 7 had shifted to activities that involve team sports had shifted to activities [that had] benefits for mental health,” Oberle told Gloria Macarenko on CBC Radio’s On The Coast.
There is a mound of other research concluding that extra-curricular activities improve a student’s overall attitude about being in school.
As a teacher, I frequently came across kids who stayed in school because participating in an individual or team sport, an extracurricular band or drama program or even a science or Math STEM type after-school opportunity made school more relevant to their own interests.
Which begs the question: If the term “curriculum” refers to a standards-based sequence of planned experiences where students practise and achieve proficiency in content and applied learning skills, why aren’t experiences beyond the narrow confines of the academic curriculum regarded as an essential part of the whole learning experience?
Independent schools know this and use a full slate of activities beyond the strictly academic curriculum as a drawing card for parents seeking an education of the “whole child” beyond academics.
But there are further significant and more pragmatic advantages of having a history of extra-curricular activities when students are applying to a tertiary institution of some kind.
The admissions landscape is ever-evolving, and these days, many institutions look a little deeper at the applicant’s background, especially when it comes to extra-curriculars.
Admissions officers know that a student’s history of extra-curricular activity can be as revealing and predictive of success as academic results.
They understand that extracurricular activities provide students with a range of “real world” skills, including goal setting, teamwork, problem solving, time management, analytical and critical thinking and, in many cases, leadership.
And if post-secondary education is not in a student’s immediate future, hiring managers will commonly look at an applicant’s extra-curricular history as one of the ways to assess their energy, work ethic and history of going beyond the basics.
Which again begs another all-important question: If, based on what we now know, these so-called “extra-curricular” activities are so influential in a student’s growth and development. isn’t it time they became a fully funded part of public education and a school’s program?
And yes, I know there are organizational difficulties involving timetables and staffing allocations, but we overcome those as the academic streams are set up, so why not for the “beyond the academic” opportunities?
There are so many stories like that of actor Morgan Freeman, who said: “When I was a teenager, I began to settle into school because I’d discovered the extracurricular activities that interested me: music and theatre.”
Geoff Johnson is a former superintendent of schools
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