Introduction
Remember when you had to decide on your first co-curricular activity (CCA)? Was it stressful due to the plethora of choices available? Or was it an easy choice because something immediately spoke to your interests? Apart from focusing on their studies, children tend to engage in numerous activities outside of their curriculum hours. This includes activities, enrichment classes and clubs organised by schools, daycare centres or external organisations. We view CCAs as mandatory activities, enforced by education institutions to align with the governmental aim of developing children holistically. We might see the influence of political agenda, but one can also argue that familial pressure plays as much of a role in coercing children to participate in external activities. As we discuss these issues further along in this article, we would like to explore the positive and negative impacts of extracurricular activities, not just limited to school based CCAs, hopefully shedding some light onto the importance of balancing such activities.
Why are children sent for such activities
Due to the competitive nature of society we are brought up in, perhaps it is the parents’ best wishes to send their children for extra-curricular activities and enrichment classes. There are numerous reasons why a child goes for such activities, and it is not our place to judge such reasons. However, we will begin by discussing a spectrum of possible reasons for enrolment into such activities.
The most common reason would be science backing early exposure to social and academic challenges in creating the foundation for neuronal development. As a child’s mind is the most flexible at that age, they are most able to pick up social cues and educational knowledge, accelerating their personal development and priming them for the education system of the future. Similar scientific research shows that learning musical instruments helps develop a child’s brain, especially in arithmetic skills, memory and coordination. This comes from developing muscular coordination in one’s limbs and fingers to hit the right notes, arithmetic and memory skills when reading music notes and tempo. In the social aspect, musical development also attunes one to social cues such as emotions and tone, through understanding the underlying tones and expression within music. (1)(2)
Another reason for enrichment activities lies in the self desire to see one become successful in the future. It is tied to the aforementioned paragraph, but opens the door for another discussion regarding sporting and artistic excellence. For instance, when Loh Kean Yew achieved Gold in the 2021 Badminton World Federation Championship, there was a spike in interest towards badminton according to academies and retailers in the industry. (3) It leads one to wonder if the spike is due to the possibility of one becoming as successful as the national athletes. Success can also be classified as getting into a good educational institute, and such is the case when we examine the Direct School Admission (DSA) pathway provided by secondary schools and pre-university institutes. One might argue that enrolling one’s child in sporting or musical classes early on provides sufficient time to nurture one’s talent and skill, to the point of being proficient enough to qualify for DSA. The DSA system in turn enables one to secure a place within so-called “premier” institutions by merit, albeit holistically.
External influence aside, a child might have interest in taking up a sport or musical instrument, which would sufficiently justify one's enrolment in such classes. If a child has a personal interest in learning something, one should embrace it and try their best to support their child in satisfying this itch to learn.
(On a personal note, I do remember asking to take drum and flute lessons in primary school because I felt it was cool to be able to play an instrument. To be honest, the interest manifested itself at the spur of the moment, which could account for why I did not continue with it. Having listened to more rock songs, I did discover a new found interest in drumming, which is why I am trying to pick it back up. -Tun Min)
Why should they participate?
Made compulsory for all secondary school students and being strongly encouraged for all primary school students, the Ministry of Education recognised the many benefits of CCAs that it would bring to students. Namely, one significant benefit of including CCAs in schools is a holistic education that allows for the personal development of students, supplementing what academics do not accomplish. Academics, while very important to a student, offers them little opportunities and outlets to establish their own personal characters, learn and develop values, moral capabilities and relevant skills to be applied in the future. Extracurricular activities expose students to a reality outside of their safe space of a classroom, where they learn and hone new skills. For example, activities involving teamwork bring students of different opinions and ideas together, in which conflicts may arise. Such an environment allows students to understand how to cooperate with others, effectively communicate opinions, resolve conflict and work as a team to accomplish a goal. In turn, students learn how to take greater initiative in a group, helping them develop leadership skills. All these skills will be relevant and applicable to students in the future, in their workplace.
Important values such as time management, sportsmanship, responsibility, commitment and resilience can also be developed through extracurricular activities.
CCAs also pose an interesting challenge to students, allowing them to exercise their creativity. In academics, rigidity and inflexibility is common, as seen in how answers to questions typically follow a standardised format. Contrary to this, students can explore other options in extracurricular activities, allowing them to develop their ability to think outside of the box and consequently, their problem-solving and critical thinking abilities.
Furthermore, participating in extracurricular activities allows students to interact with more people of different walks of life with similar interests, giving them opportunities to expand their circle of friends. Networking and socialising with others will allow students to expand their social circle which can enrich and liven up their school life.
(Personally, through joining different CCAs in school, I have managed to forge bonds with other like-minded people, who are also now my dearest friends -Cin Thet.)
Adding on to the benefits of joining such activities, students can also benefit in terms of cognitive development. As previously stated, learning musical instruments help develop a child’s brain. Likewise, participating in sports has shown a strong link to improved academic performance and overall cognitive development in children. Sports allow children to develop parts of their brain which academics do not, enhancing their ability to process, memorise and apply information, as well as their concentration. (4)
As mentioned above, such activities are valuable opportunities for children to explore their own interests and grow their talent in certain activities. They also act as outlets for students to relieve their stress during.
(CCAs were really meaningful to me, as I got to participate in different activities over the many years, and learn many new skills! - Cin Thet.)
What are some negative impacts of excessive participation/emphasis?
Though, we cannot ignore the drawbacks of excessive emphasis we now place on CCAs.
The old guard often argues that excessive participation of children in CCAs result in the neglect and detriment of their studies. A competitive student athlete, for example, may have hours-long training every day of the week, causing both physical and mental fatigue. This lowers the amount and quality of study time they have to complete homework and prepare for examinations. The phenomenon of putting all of one’s eggs in the basket of a CCA is commonplace and a sudden injury to an aspiring athlete or a loss of interest for a talented musician may bring great uncertainty to their future, especially when they do not have their education to rely upon. The balance between education and CCAs is definitely difficult for a student to strike.
Furthermore, many youths now pursue their CCAs for practical reasons rather than out of interest. In 2014, the Singapore Ministry of Education launched the LEAPS 2.0 framework to “encourage students’ holistic development in life skills, competencies and values”, recognising students’ attainment in the four domains: participation, service, leadership and achievement. Points are attributed to each domain which significantly impact applications to post-secondary educational institutions. The framework may inhibit an uninterested student from changing their CCA to one they are actually interested in, so as to not negatively affect the participation domain. Moreover, it may encourage an unhealthy rat race between students in a CCA for leadership positions to get an edge in the leadership domain. Having a rigid framework to one’s extra-curricular interests can be seen as restrictive and constraining which may have harmful effects to mental health.
CCAs can also pose a sizable financial burden to students and their families. A student athlete, for example, would have to spend on appropriate sneakers and other relevant equipment. On top of that, there is often a need to purchase new jerseys and uniforms for each new sporting season as well as transport and living expenses required for overseas competitions. Despite significant subsidies from governmental organisations and schools, less well off students often find themselves disadvantaged compared to their more privileged counterparts, highlighting disparities between students.
Conclusion
While we understand the importance of having CCA’s, we also acknowledge the detrimental impacts over emphasis on CCA has on a child. CCA’s are a learning platform for students to develop and grow their interests and talents, when there is an appropriate balance between a child’s basic education and their external activities. For instance, specialised schools that hone a student’s sporting or artistic talents (e.g. Singapore Sports School, School of the Arts (SOTA)), place a great deal of emphasis on the student’s training while incorporating education. It is indeed a difficult balance to strike between extra-curricular activities and education, but there are appropriate times to focus on one or the other. Hence, we believe that children should not over-emphasise extra-curriculars, but neither should they over-emphasise academics, so as to achieve a truly holistic education from which students can benefit greatly from.
(1) Stacy Kish, “Enrichment Programs Help Children Build Knowledge - News - Carnegie Mellon University,” Enrichment Programs Help Children Build Knowledge - News - Carnegie Mellon University (Carnegie Mellon University, May 21, 2020), https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2020/may/enrichment-programs-help-children-build-knowledge.html.
(2) “Musical Benefits: Learning Potential,” Musical benefits | Learning Potential (Australian Government | Learning Potential, April 17, 2020), https://www.learningpotential.gov.au/articles/musical-benefits#:~:text=Studies%20in%20neuroscience%20show%20that,formation%20of%20new%20neural%20connections.
(3) Kimberly Kwek, “Badminton: Academies, Retailers See Surge in Interest Thanks to 'Loh Kean Yew' Effect,” The Straits Times (The Straits Times, January 4, 2022), https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/badminton-academies-retailers-see-surge-in-interest-thanks-to-loh-kean-yew-effect.
(4) physioinq, “Why Are Sports Important for Children’s Development?”, physioinq (April 11, 2019)