Summer projects can create an opportunity for students to expand their knowledge on a subject and keep their minds sharp. However, for these projects to achieve their intended goal they have to be completed with accuracy and efficiency, as well as have captured the students' interests and provoked thought within them. With this in mind, students should be the ones to choose their topic for a summer project rather than their teachers. A student choosing their own project can allow the student to be more engaged and willing to do the project, eliminates ambiguity within the assignment, and teaches students to be more forward thinking and creative.

Assignments given by teachers will not always reflect the interests of students. In fact, in tailoring to the class as a whole, most if not all of the class will not have particular interest in the topic of choice. By allowing students to choose their topic, these projects can tailor to the students' own thoughts. Most of the time, we will find greater interest in a topic that comes from ourselves rather than from others, especially if it deals with something we enjoy. Therefore, by choosing their own assignments, the students will be willing to complete their projects, and will likely do so with much greater fervor and effort than if the project was teacher assigned.

Sometimes, an assignment can be unclear or confusing. This may lead to a project being completed incorrectly or with more inaccuracies. By having students come up with their own projects, the room for error between the process of the teacher coming up with the project and translating their idea for the students to interpret is eliminated, and replaced with a direct process within only the student. The students will be able to accomplish much more when they know exactly what they are trying to accomplish. Like in a game of telephone, the more people involved in passing on and interpreting an idea, the more muddied and confusing the original idea will become.

A teacher simply telling a student what to do leaves no room for students to grow their abstract thinking and creativity, necessary skills to have later in life. Schooling is meant to prepare students for life, and in the future people will not hand these former-students a list of exactly what to do. Instead, problem-solving skills need to be cultured, and a proper first step is allowing students to choose their own projects. Choosing their own projects allows the students to think a little more creatively in an area of their interest, exploring a topic unique to them. This creative thinking when facilitated in a group of students, can spread to others in similar work and can help grow the education system as a whole.

Although teachers choosing summer projects can be fine for younger children, teenagers should be given the chance to independantly come up with ideas for their summer projects for personal and mental growth. The education system cannot have students expecting to be told how to do everything, as that will not get them anywhere further in life. Creativity is needed to find new ways of approaching old ideas, without it the world woudl stagnate. Ambiguity can only hurt the final product of an idea. Passion is needed for one to put as much effort as possible into completing a task, so the result can be up to standard, or better than expected. By instilling, or removing, these traits/problems early, the school system will not have failed the students themselves. Starting small, even in a summer school project, can end with a massive impact on students' futures.