Blag

Extracurricular activities, whether they come in the form of sports, clubs, or organizations, are integral parts of most, if not all, public schools. These programs are most often highly beneficial for many reasons: they allow students to pursue their interests to a higher degree than what they are able to in school, they can allow struggling students to get the help they need (e.g. tutoring), and they keep students who may otherwise be involved in malicious activities out of trouble. When schools are faced with budget cuts, however, these extracurricular activities are often the first areas cut. This seems to be the easiest route, as there are few, if any, government requirements in terms of required extracurricular activities, unlike the many requirements when it comes to academics. Furthermore, extracurricular activities can be comparatively expensive. Though it may be difficult to get exact figures, one can assume that the dozens upon dozens of sports most schools have take up a large portion of the budget and slashing a few from the budget can remove a large expense from the budget without significantly affecting a large number of people. For these reasons, extracurricular activities should be placed at a lower importance than academics (especially when it comes to budget issues), though they should not be placed on the back burner completely.

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It was nine-o’clock. A distant alarm sound went off nine times.

Howard barely reacted to the bell going off to notify the city of the current hour; he barely noticed its shrill, resonating sound. It had gone off 24 times a day since he was born 29 years ago and was now as natural a background noise as the incessant buzzing of the bluish-green florescent light above him. Despite the fact that it was nearly midday and only barely overcast, the light remained on, perhaps to give a sense of life, energy, to the city and street which was barren, save for a few other citizens walking along the fractured sidewalk silently. [Foreshadowing]

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