Would you rather learn something your interested and passionate about, or be forced to learn by a set state, city, or county curriculum standard? Although the answer seems obvious, many school systems still debate over the topic of the summer project being in the student's hands or the teacher's every year. Having a student assigned summer project would be more beneficial to the student because it may lead to new discoveries, work would be done more efficiently, and could lead to new interest or career path.

Many might say that giving the choice of the projects to the students is a poor idea because they will choose the easiest, non-relevant, topics to work on, but that thought is incorrect. Giving the student the choice will cause them to choose a topic they are interested in and willing to work on, that even may not have been looked into before. For example-- The environmental study that found bird populations in the United States desert were decreasing jurassicly due to heat exhaustion was conducted as a summer college project. Without this amazing topic choice by the student, the study may not have ever been done. Environmentalist may have completely skipped over the fact that the bird population in the desert had almost decreased by 33% without this student chosen topic.

Most teachers believe that work only gets done if there is a grade to a project; that students will get off track if there is not set due dates. In most cases this is true, students will procrastinate their school work schedules because they are not interested in the study or topic that the teacher has chosen for them. This problem could be solved if the student was working on something he or she has chosen and is interested in. If the topic is something they are truly passionate about, the project no longer is done based on what's due and becomes focused on what the student has learned. He or she will probably do more work than expected before due dates because they will continue to research the topic and study due to their interest in it.

Giving the student the choice of the project may even spark new opportunities and choices for their future career path. The typical, boring, due date to due date summer project might be able to become useful in helping the student find what they like to study. If a student has never looked into the medical field before, and chooses a subject based on the human body. It may spark interest in the field of health services, physical therapy or nursing. This can not only be helpful for that one project but can inspire an entire career. With a teacher assigned project the student might never be able to experience this field and or find interest in it.

Having the student choose their summer project could make it more than just a project, it could be an opportunity to learn about themselves, what they want to do in the future and explore new territories in what they can study. The choice can change the mood of the project from "Oh no" to "Oh yes" and make that uninteresting summer project, a big step in life.