What is the last thing a student that is excited for summer break wants to hear from their teachers? "Class, I will be assigning you a summer assignment that will be due at the beginning of the next semester." In general, summer assignments are buzz kills for the great times students have during their summer breaks. To prevent ruining students' breaks, teachers at schools that require summer projects should ensure that these projects are student-designed. Having student-designed projects as a pose to teacher-designed projects will make projects more enjoyable for students and give them a feeling of fulfillment upon completion. Student-designed projects will also make students less likely to procrastinate and prepare them for the real world.

When you have been assigned a summer assignment by your teacher, how many times have you dreaded it knowing that it will be many boring hours of work that could have been spent with friends? For most people, they felt this way every time. Instead of frustrating students like teacher-designed projects do, student-designed projects will motivate students to pursue their passions and actually do research and work on subjects that they care about. In addition, student-designed projects are far more fulfilling to complete than a repetitive teacher-designed project that assigns the same couple of directions to every single student. In simple terms, student-designed projects are far more enjoyable and fulfilling for students and they will not spoil a student's summer break.

Another pattern among students that are assigned teacher-designed projects is that they wait until the last minute to start working. If a teacher-designed project is due on the first day of the second week of school, it is very likely that students will not start their "summer" projects until after school year has already begun. On the other hand, the more enjoyable student-designed projects will actually motivate most students to do something with all the time they have off during summer. Thus, students will be less likely to procrastinate and they will actually do their work in a timely, efficient manner instead of waiting for the last minute.

The most beneficial part of a student-designed project is that it prepares students for the real world. Student-designed projects force students to think for themselves and come up with their own unique, potentially brilliant ideas. The most successful business men in the world got to the point that they are at because of their individual ideas. For example, Elon Musk would not be where he is if he did not come up with Tesla or Space-X. The point is, student-designed projects force students to think individually. Without individual thought, it would be impossible for students to unlock their full potential and make their way into the top 1%.

With far more benefits, assigning student-based projects is superior to assigning teacher-based projects. Some may argue that teacher-designed projects are fairer to students because they assign every student the same project. However, student-based projects allow students to apply themselves to a subject that they have an actual interest in and produce far better results than the "equal" teacher-based projects do. In other words, would you rather have students go into the real world ready and able to think for themselves or would rather have machine-like students who only know how to follow directions? You decide.