How Extra-Curricular Activities In College and School Lay The Foundation For A Successful Career In The Future

Parents are always worried about their children’s academic activities and how they fare in their academic results. Academics are really important; in fact, they are greatly important as it shapes a student’s continuous timeline from school to college. But, it is often seen that parents feel that academics are the only path that their children should tread on and give full attention to it. They argue that extra-curricular activities are only the break that comes in between academic activities and cannot be considered as important as academics for a successful career. However, many researches regarding these arguments have shown otherwise.

Extra-curricular activities play an important role in shaping the future of a child and it helps a lot in their academic performances too. The basic requirements for a well-rounded education are not just academics; it includes various extra-curricular activities that provide real-life skills to children, which go a long way in defining their ability to react to different career opportunities in the future. This has been understood by educators and this is why good educational institutes give equal stress to develop students both academically and through extra-curricular activities.

How Extra-Curricular Activities In College and School Lay The Foundation For A Successful Career In The Future

Participating in extra-curricular activities is not only fun but also helps in getting to know the world outside of your own perception. Following are some of the ways how extra-curricular activities in college and school lay the foundation for a successful career in the future:

  • Helps in developing soft skills

Soft skills play an important part in professional life and are usually acquired rather than being innate. Extra-curricular activities like public speaking, debate, recitation competition, etc. plant the seeds of soft skills into the students’ cognitive functional area at a young age, making it easy for them in the future. Soft skills are all about how you can communicate, express yourself, lead a team or manage your time; which can all be perfectly honed with participating in various extra-curricular activities from a young age.

  • Understand the importance of network building

Behind every successful career there is a good professional network of people, who help you at some point.

When students participate in extra-curricular activities held between different colleges and schools, they get to know other students. This might help them to share ideas and discuss about certain topics related to their academics. Networking also might help them to discuss difficult topics and solve tough problems together.

They will learn from these types of interactions that having a network of like-minded people helps them in the future.

  • Get to know how skills are Transferable

Some skills that one acquires in life can be used in different circumstances. E.g in a debate competition, a student not only has to provide good arguments but also need to have good listening abilities. This listening skill is transferable to other activities as well. In the future, it will help him/her to be able to communicate with your clients and customers by listening to their requirements.

  • Learn how to handle stress and failure

Failures and stress are all part of competitive activities. If students participate in competitive activities from a young age, they will understand that failures are a part of it. This will provide them with the ability to handle failures better in future. Also, they will learn to take the burden of stress in a positive way and not get overwhelmed by it.

  • Helps in building confidence

In academic life, students already know the syllabus and most of the questions asked in the exams relate to what they have studied before. But in extra-curricular activities, there is a high level of uncertainty and when students learn to overcome this, it will help in instilling confidence in his actions and tremendous self belief.

  • Helps in overcoming social barrier

When you go for extra-curricular activities, it is more like a social thing and you come in contact with different people from different places. So, you will get exposed to a social circle you have never experienced before. This helps in overcoming the social barrier that you might have grown in and learn to appreciate different abilities of different people. This will help you a lot at the workplaces in the future.

Parents, if you are reading this article, should understand that extra-curricular activities are equally important and even though the results are not seen immediately, it will prepare their children for a better future. They should make sure to appreciate any kind of such participation that their children make and encourage them do so.

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