Some schools require its students to complete summer assignments, this raises the question of whether these projects should be teacher-designed or students-designed? Which would be more beneficial to both the educator and the learner? Students would better benefit from completing an assignment structured by teachers because they have received an education on how to teach adolescents, understand where a student needs to be in their learning, and allow the individual to explore a subject that they previously didn't know about.

Summer assignments should be teacher-structured for many reasons, one of them being that the teachers have been educated on student learning. Before even being able to become an educator, teachers have to complete an education of their own; where they learn the most beneficial way to help another person understand something. Compared to an adolescent, who most likely isn't thinking the same way, it is clear that one will have much more success than the other in getting the lesson through. One is focused on how to get the point across as efficiently as possible and the other simply doesn't have the same thought process. The vigorous work done to obtain a teaching degree also ensure that those who are taught under the educator are not put in a stressful situation, learn at a comfortable speed, and are challenged just enough. Proving that teacher-designed assignments guarantee not only that the individual is learning, but learning effectively.

Another reason that proves why teacher-designed summer projects are more efficient is that the teacher better understands where a students is in their learning and where they should be by what time. For example, more experienced educators have seen quite a lot of different students with different learning patters and know how to manipulate that to the benefit of the student and themselves. This trait is most useful in a situation that the students in a class are in completely different areas in their understanding. The teacher is then able to build projects that are unique to each individual's strengths and weaknesses. Which consequently allows the class to collectively reach the same high level of understanding, all while working individually.

It is impossible for a student to design an project about a topic that they dont' already know about. Teachers should be the one's structuring the summer assignment because they are able to give the learner an unknown topic that could even possibly interest them. A student-designed project serves no purpose in assuring that a student will continue learning, but only review materials that they have already learned. Giving teachers control over the project prompts the student to research unfamiliar topics and further educate themselves. This small, but important change in the project designer completely decides whether a student will go on with a solid understanding of the class or forget the only half of the material that they learned.

Although one could argue that student-designed summer assignment have their own benefits the better option are teacher-designed assignments. These summer projects are better structured because the teachers have received and education on how to teach adolescents, they understand where a student needs to be in their learning, and allow the individual to explore a subject that they previously didn't know about. This structure is also beneficial because it doesn't allow the student to create anything that isn't challenging and even makes it easier on the teacher with grading. For these reasons, summer assignments should be designed by teachers and not the students.