Since the birth of the internet and social media, the world has shifted to greatly favor the innovators and the free-thinkers. Society no longer demands students to find one subject they are good at, go to college to study that subject, and then get a middle class job in that field. While performing one skill at a very high level still holds value, the most successful people are those who can think ahead of the curve, those who can think of the next Amazon, the next Netflix, the next Uber, the next big thing. So, how does that relate to whether we have student-designed or teacher-designed summer school projects? Well, letting students design their own projects gives them more freedom, allowing them to think outside the box, which aids the development of valuable skills that are applicable in the real world. Instead of teaching students how to follow directions on a rubric, we should be teaching them to think creatively and how to collaborate with one another.

Allowing students to design their own projects gives them far more freedom than a teacher-designed project ever could. Keeping students on a leash forces them to wear a one size fits all education. Each student is different; they all have different strengths, different weaknesses, different motivations, and different goals. That is why we need to give them tailored education. Giving students this freedom would allow them to create a project that works well for them, and more importantly on a topic they are actually interested in. If we let students do a topic they enjoy, the results will be far better compared to when they are forced to learn about something they have no long term interest in. The freedom students gain from designing their own projects is far more valuable than just following the directions their teachers gave them.

Making students design their own projects encourages them to learn how to think creatively. Arguably, the most valuable skill in today's society is the ability to be able to bring a new unique perspective and thought process to any discussion. That is not a skill that can be obtained by constantly being told what to do and how to do it. Students need to learn for themselves how to go to the drawing board, find out which ideas are bad, which ones are good, and then create a plan to execute the good ones. That is not something that can be spoon fed in the classroom. That's why student designed summer projects are the perfect opportunity for schools to do their part in teaching students how to think creatively.

When forced to come up with their own ideas and think creatively students will develop and enhance skills they would have never had the teacher been the one designing the project. For example, if it is a partner project these two students will have to learn how to collaborate together to design a project, designate jobs to each other, and hold each other accountable for their share of the work. That kind of collaboration never would have occurred had the teacher done all that for them. When students go on to college and into their professional career they will have to learn skills like collaboration, because they won't have someone doing it for them. That is why it is important we take the time to prepare them for than now.

A wise man once said, "don't follow where the path may lead, but go where there is no path and leave a trail." I believe that quote perfectly represents how we want our students to think. The skills developed through out of the box thinking which can be achieved by allowing students the freedom to design their own projects is far more valuable out in the real world then anything the teacher could prepare.