Should Lexington High School limit its number of clubs?

November 13, 2018

By Katya Ivanenko and Ashna Mitta

Students attend weekly quiz bowl practice on October 24, 2018.

Lexington High School has an incredible number of clubs. Two of our writers, Ashna and Katya, discuss the benefits and disadvantages of so many options.

TOO MANY CLUBS!

Students and staff may wonder why there are so many clubs at Lexington High School, especially because many of these clubs don't have a lot of exposure or many members.

Competition between clubs at LHS is intense. With so many groups, energy is dispersed, making it difficult for each individual club to successfully run large events.

There's also a bit of a fake club epidemic, in which students join or even create clubs they have no intention of substantively engaging with, just to pad their college applications - a task made ridiculously easy by lenient club policies.

A limit on the number of clubs would encourage smaller clubs with similar ideas to merge, forming bigger, more impactful student groups.

"If the club only gets a couple people showing up and they do nothing to further develop the club, the club should be dissolved," Zainah Islam, a sophomore, said.

BRING ON THE CLUBS!

Each student should have the option to join whatever club they feel benefits them the most. If they really want to share something with the whole school, they should be able to make a club and share that.

"I think that having a lot of clubs at LHS is actually a good aspect of our school because [it] gives everyone an opportunity to find one that they enjoy. I love doing clubs at school because we help and impact others in such a positive and fulfilling way, and I get to meet so many new people," Angela Lai, a junior, said.

Although the status quo is a little chaotic, the alternative would be far worse: club merit would be a popularity contest, with the biggest clubs considered more legitimate than clubs with lower but potentially more passionate memberships.

LHS has many clubs because of our diverse range of talents, passions and interests. That's something we should be proud of, not something that we try to limit.