Extra curricular activities shouldn’t outshine academics

By Claire DeRoin–

What are you looking to gain from your four (or more) years at Morningside? Good memories of fun nights in the dorms? A winning sports season? Long-lasting friendships? The freshman fifteen from that delicious Sodexo food?

Those things are all good and well, but they aren’t what college is all about. The most important thing students should leave Morningside with is a diploma and skills they can apply to the “real world.”

Don’t get me wrong. I, too, participate in extracurricular activities on campus. Some of them are minor commitments. Others take a lot of my time. Some of them are going to help me out upon graduation. Some of them won’t. It’s best to accept that fact and realize that the main focus should be on what will prepare a student for the future, not just what’s fun now.

Think! Sports skills and extracurricular club grill-outs aren’t going to look very impressive on job resumes as opposed to internships, professional networking skills, and other miscellaneous job experience students can learn in their classes.

I don’t mind being in class with students that are passionate about their extra-curricular activities. I’m sure the majority of student athletes, student actors, student government advocates, et cetera, have high GPA’s and are the people you scramble to team up with for a group project. They turn their work in on time, attend classes regularly, and are adept at time management.  (You have to be in order to balance class, work, lessons, rehearsals, practices, concerts, games, meetings, tournaments, meets, recitals, and everything else!) Perhaps this goes back to high school where teachers were able to pull students from their activities if the student’s grade dropped too low.

But let’s face it. Not everyone at Morningside is here to gain the knowledge and experience necessary to be a useful tax-payer. We all know that kid who’s just in school because they didn’t know what to do after high school besides their one extracurricular activity.

Grin and bear it, Morningsiders. This is probably the case at every two or four year college.

Besides, being called a nerd for being absorbed in your classes as opposed to social clubs won’t be so bad when you get the first pick at a job after graduation.

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