Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? These days, children spend more time on doing homework or participating in organized activities related to school or sports. However, they should be given more time to do whatever they want.

Education develops rapidly in the past decades, and majority of children in both developed and developing nations have opportunities to have formal education in school. However, people realized that today's children have a timetable that is full of classes, assignments, and other organized school-related activities. Some people think this is overloaded for children and they should have more free time to do what they are interested in. However, I disagree with the view point. I believe participating in organized activities benefits children academically and socially. First, doing homework and taking part in other school-related activities equips children with more capabilities to go through their school life. Explicitly,  attending classes, doing assignments and participating in other events such as academic competition allow students to learn required knowledge of a variety of subjects. Furthermore, such organized activities enable children to enhance their learning abilities which will be beneficial to their future development.  To be more specific,  they learn not only basic facts about a subject, but learning strategies and how to put knowledge into practice as well. My experience in elementary school is a typical example of this. When I was in Grade 6, I joined a science club at school, in which we are required to attend lectures and labs after school every Friday. I still remember how I observed a pencil underwater in a half, which seemed broken. I also worked with my classmates to complete a worksheet prepared by our teacher, who also explained why and how this phenomenon happen. Through the process, I understood the concept of “refraction” and also learned about observation and recording data, which are basic methods in science. If I had spent the Friday afternoons on playing on the ground as I wished, I would not have grasped the knowledge and learning methods, which has become a solid foundation for my learning in secondary school. Second, through organized activities and sports,  children have more opportunities to make friends and share a deep bond with their classmates.  Studying at school and doing similar homework provide a good way for children to share ideas with peers. They may find more in common with their classmates and build their own social circle. Doing sports acts as a bond that holds children together, aiming to the same goal and trusting each other.  Take myself as an example. I was a member of school basketball team. Following guidance from the coach, I trained with other team members every weekend, and we competed against teams from other schools. The shared experience of laughter and tears bond us together, and we are still close friends now. I would not have had so many precious friends if I had not joined the school sport team and just spent my spare time on video games or watching TV by myself. Admittedly, allowing more time for children to do whatever they want may stimulate children’s potential.  However, most children are prone to misbehave, either because they are too young to be self-disciplined, or because the temptations to which they are exposed are too strong. For example, children may indeed be gifted with computers, but they are also likely to be addicted to engaging games rather than complicated programming skills or circuit of the chips. This is where school activities have an edge that under the instructions of teachers, the addiction to games is less likely and a goal-oriented study can be ensured.