Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Student activities do as much benefit as academic study.

The trade-off between student activities and academic study has been, for years, in the limelight of the discussion on education, where people never seem to see eye to eye. In reference to such an issue, the given statement, in my opinion, should not be regarded as overall reasonable. When it comes to extracurricula activities, some may argue that they are equally beneficial to students compared with the schoolwork, thus student activities deserve the same attention. Admittedly, various activities are conducive to students’ life in plenty of aspects. Engaging in student affairs could cultivate the promise in leadership; chatting freely in the parties get those who lack confidence out of their shell; joining in student associations brings us likeminded friends and expand our horizon. Each specific types of student activities has its unique function, which is indispensable for a colorful campus life, let alone the fact that all of those choices take our mind off the pressured academic affairs and help us to unwind. In light of the forgoing preferable benefits the student activities might bring, they are, indeed, essential for every student. However, the revenue extracurricula activities could generate does not imply that it does as much as benefit as schoolwork. Actually, student activities cannot even come close to academic study in terms of their significance. Firstly, it is academic study, rather than the colorful activities that guarantees the students’ job prospects and future development. Strict training in diverse courses endow us with basic abilities we need to further our career, e. g. , mathematics giving us logical thinking, creative writing enhancing our rhetoric skills, history teaching us to learn from the past, which are all required in all walks of life. Even for the students who merely hit the books before the finals without comprehensive understanding of the knowledge, a good academic record will convince their manager of their high intelligence when submitting their resumes. Let us assume two graduates, one of them getting straight A in all the courses but participating in few activities while the other being active in many types of activities, some of which you don’t even know the contents of, whereas the GPA being quite poor. Which one would you hire if you were the manager? Certainly the former is the desirable candidate. Secondly, the overemphasis on student activities could cause a huge amount of serious problems, while academic study never generate destructive effects even though sometimes students might be stressed out for schoolwork. Take the popular parties as an example. Naturally, hanging out with other students in the party offers an opportunity to make friends. However, chances are, bad habits could rub off on boys and girls in their formative years. Undesirable things, i. e. , drug addiction, unwanted sex and even underage pregnancy, do breed in those parties, not kidding. Student activities are too difficult to regulate that the dark side of the society could sneak up on students without any signal. In contrast, nobody has ever heard that some boy became a juvenile delinquent due to his academic affairs. Given the negative effects the student activities might bring, could anyone assert that they are equally beneficial to students? To sum up, academic study is much more conducive to students than the various activities for the reason mentioned above. Fortunately, thanks to some insightful educators, academic study is the highest priority of most educational institutions, rather than the activities.