Homework over the summer. An idea so devastating, many students would rather not think of it at all. However, summer homework is a necessary evil, one that allows more rigorous classes to get an early start, so that student have prior knowledge of what the class will be like, and a better understanding of the course content. While many students would thoroughly enjoy making their own summer project, they should be created by the teachers, because it would help the projects make sense, give an adequate understanding of course difficulty, and it would create a central knowledge foundation for all student taking the class.

When students create projects for themselves, they don't always work like desired. Students have lots of wild ideas, and they all have a different understanding of various topics. A student creating a project will tend toward researching things they are already interested in, or something they think is easy. Many students, no matter what class they take, will always opt for the easier alternative. While that isn't all students, the overachievers are the exception, not the rule. If students were to craft their own summer assignments, they would make it something easy for them, and something they don't have to work particularly hard for. A teacher needs to be the one who creates such an assignment, because their objective view of the difficulty of the assignment and their understanding of what the class requires will keep the project focused on what needs to be done, rather than an easy piece of paper with facts the student already knew.

Classes that require summer homework are often among the more difficult classes, and thus the teacher needs to help students be aware of what they have signed up for. If a student creates their own assignment, it may not give an realistic idea of what to expect in the course. This could cause confusion and unpreparedness when the course begins, and would upsets students who didn't realize what the course would be like, causing them to drop the class, even though they might be able to succeed in the more rewarding, more challenging class. A teacher who understands the course material and the difficulty of said material would be the best one to assign anything for that class, but especially a summer assignment designed to prepare students for the upcoming class.

Every student is very different. Some enjoy sports, while some others enjoy academics. Some love history, other adore English, and still more are math geniuses. Since every student has so many differing ideas, why sould they make their own subjective summer projects? If the students were to create their own assignments, one of two things would happen. Either each student would create their own, individual/small group projects, which would cause each student to be prepared very differently for the course, and would see each student knowing small chunks of their basic course fundamentals, or the entire class would create their assignment, which would cause discourse between students who have different knowledge bases, and would lead to arguments and disagreements, and very little would get done by the people the project didn't favor. The teacher needs to create an assignment that gives each student a solid foundation in the course, and would give each student what they need to thrive in their class.

All in all, while students would love to create their own assignments where they learn about what they enjoy and do as little work as possible, that would simply be impractical, and it would be better for teacher who know the information needed to create an assignment correctly. After all, since they went to school to learn how to teach effectively, they shouldn't ever need the students to create a project themselves.