In this study I would like to propose that there are many factors affecting the distribution of opportunities to participate in extra-curricular activities of junior high school students in General Santos City National High School. These factors are the nature of the student’s curriculum, class standing, academic performance, socio-economic backgrounds, and the students’ relationship with each other from different curriculum.
According to Annu & Sunita (2015), extra-curricular activities are defined as any activities that take place beyond what is compulsory for the school curriculum. These activities are voluntary and students usually do not receive extra credit for these (Holloway, 2000). In most schools, the students are given free choices whether to be involved in extra-curricular activities or not, but in many private schools they treat extra-curricular activities as a mandatory requirement for their students because they believe that this can help their students to be more ‘well-rounded’ (Stoltzfus, 2007, 4). Furthermore, according to Jones (1925), students’ engagement towards extra-curricular activities will help develop their ability to be involved in community problems.
These engagements, he believed, will provide students “a sense of personal responsibility for fair play and for unselfish service and will help them to become increasingly self-directed” (Jones, 1925, 512) In the education system today, extra-curricular activities have become an integral component in a student’s life. Studies related to these usually focus more on the effects of participating in extra-curricular activities to the academic performance of students. One of these is the study conducted by McCarthy (2000) in which he emphasized that those students who participate more in extra-curricular activities has significantly higher GPA’s and significantly lower absenteeism.
