9 September 2003
Dear Amber,
It was lovely to hear from you. All of us miss you very much. Mum and Dad are glad that you are slowly adjusting to life in a boarding school.
In your letter you complained about the compulsory co-curricular activities. Well, let me tell you that you can reap many benefits through active participation in these activities. Firstly, the various co-curricular activities help you become a better person (point 1). Participation in uniformed units, clubs and societies, sports and games will help you discover your talents and develop your character. You will become a more confident and well-rounded person. The strict rules and good behavior expected of you as a member of a uniformed unit will instill discipline you. This is important if you are to become a law-abiding citizen.
Besides, you will learn good values through the various co-curricular activities. You will learn about the importance of cooperation and respect for others .These values are very important in a multi-racial society like ours.
You have always said that you admire great leaders like Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln. Well, co-curricular activities will certainly help you to develop leadership skills. There will be ample opportunities to enable you to become a good leader. Besides learning how to plan events, you will learn to organize activities .Sometimes, you might even have to handle a challenging situation and this will teach you how to make on-the-spot decisions.
More importantly, co-curricular activities provide you with many opportunities to help you develop social skills .As you know, a person with good social skills have an edge these days. Extra-curricular activities will also provide you with opportunities to take part in competitions at various levels. Schools usually select their representatives for competitions at zone, state or