Well it's getting close to that time of year again, summer time! Warm air, bright shinning sun, and many activities that are only available during the summer season. But if you are like some students who go to certain schools maybe not so much. Some schools across the country require students to preform school based learning projects during their summer break. There projects are said to continue in helping kids and teens learn about subjects outside of school. Most of the projects are given by the teacher for the student to complete but some think that this decision should change.

What many teachers don't realize is that teenagers are slowly being thrown into adulthood. Every year we have seen more and more teenagers be pushed into adult responsibility even when they are so young. Many students have to get jobs in the summer to support their families and help them. Some students work on farms which require all hands on deck. Some students even have wives and children to take care of. While the idea of the over the summer projects are neat they really should be student run. While teachers might have more neater and straight forward assignments, student based projects would give them the power. This would give them the power to give themselves an opportunity to learn about a subject they were always interested in and wish to pursue further.

Busy, work based lives are what many students go home to everyday. Since their is no school during the summer students, manly teenagers, are pushed into work. Now some teens and kids want summer jobs to make some cash or just to have experience in something. But some unlucky students are forced into work not because they want to but because they have too. Many students nowadays, with numbers growing more and more everyday, have to work to survive. Many teens and young adults come from broken homes with high divorce rates and low long time marriage rates. Some students don't have fathers or mothers who work, some live with their grandparents, while some sadly live on their own. Most of the student complete high school with no drive to pursue higher knowledge while others do. The ones who do have that drive want the power to make a choice, to chose who and what they want to be. I was lucky enough to have to parents growing up, unfortunately I know a lot who don't. These students want the power this time and the choice to choose what they want to do. They want to be able to pick the subject that they are interested in and pursue it, this time with nothing and no one in their way.

Many students in the United States have been diagnosed with a learning disability. Whether is be reading, understand, or they just generally struggle to grasp a concept, these student have it hard. They are already given a disadvantage when they enter into the learning ring. Many of the students attend summer programs to assist them with their disabilities. Many teachers do not take this into account which leads to upset, angry, and stressed out students who truly can't help it. However, with them in control of these summer projects they could make something that conforms to them. The project, with them behind the learning wheel, could also assist them with their disability. They could make it something they understand and can learn at their own pace while also learning about something they enjoy. They can finally be set free and be given the power and choice to learn a pursuing subject, but also have something that conforms to their personal needs.

Students as a word is something that a lot of people see as a word used to describe kids and teens who go to school, learn, then return to perfect homes. That might have been the case year ago, but not anymore. In today's society kids and teens are being pushed to take responsibility. They are being pushed to work and survive without guidance from parental figures. The idea of the over the summer projects is neat, but if they are truly going to work then the students should be in control. Getting a choice and a say so in the matter is what may students long for and want, because they may have never had it before. They get to choose and pursue something they may have always dreamed of and want to chase after. With nothing holding them back except their drive and imaginations, these students will finally have a choice to follow their dreams to something much bigger.