Many students want freedom when it comes to learning. In order to assure students are developing their knowledge over the summer, schools are requiring students to complete a summer project. Many argue whether these summer projects should be teacher-designed or student-designed. Despite the majority of the school year being teacher-designed, summer projects should be student-designed because teachers will assign an unnecessary amount of work, students can incorporate personal interests, and they can work on what they need to improve.

Over break, some teachers give out a copious amount of work to complete. An example of when teachers assign an excess amount of work is shown when a teacher assigns multiple packets of work to complete over winter break. Students rarely get any free time because of the mass amount of homework. Over the summer students should not have to deal with the stress of completing assignments that fill up the whole break. Another example of teachers giving too much work is shown when kids have to stay in and work on school-work instead of playing with their friends. After a long, challenging year of school students deserve a break to refresh their minds. If the summer projects are student-designed, the length of the assignment will be appropriate. Giving the student the right amount of time to learn as well as have fun. Students need a break from learning, furthermore, if teachers design the project they will not leave students with much time to enjoy summer.

Too make the summer project more enjoyable, a student-designed project will enable the ability to incorporate ones own interests. When someone gets to work with their own interests they tend to become more passionate, for example, when an athlete gets to write about their favorite sports team he will be able to easily complete the assignment on a topic that they already follow. Allowing students to include their interests will allow everyone to relate to the project. As a result more students will finish their projects on time. A student-designed project will give the student freedom with the way they express their knowledge, for instance, the student will decide how his project will be presented whether it be PowerPoint, poster, and many more. This gives the student the ability to choose which format they are more comfortable with. On top of being comfortable, they can show off their skills and creativity with whichever option they choose. To include every individual, a student-designed project will allow people to work with what they enjoy doing.

An advantage of using a student-designed project is that students are able to work on the classes that need improvement. Furthermore, this student-designed project can be used as a way to practice topics that the individual has a conflict with. With a teacher-designed project they have no way of knowing every single students weak spots. If students get to design their own project based on previous history, it will ultimately lead to better grades. Another benefit of being able to work on classes that need improvement is shown in the example of when a student misses a unit of learning due to unfortunate circumstances and is able to make-up the learning in the summer. The summer is the perfect opportunity to work on previously missed assignments. Using a student-designed project gives students the ability to be able to work on what they need to know rather than being forced to work on an assignment that the teacher offers. Students should design their projects because they are able to grow on the subjects that need improvement.

Overall, summer projects should be designed by the student because teachers may give out too much work, students can work with their personal interests, and student can choose a topic that they need more practice in.

Giving students their freedom on how they learn is very important, as everybody obtains information differently. Hopefully students will be able to design their projects and assignments throughout the school year as well.