Summer break is meant for fun and time with family and friends, but students don't really notice that they are losing the skills and knowledge they've collected. They really only care about having fun, not learning. Students always look forward to summer break, but tend to slowly lose some of the knowledge that they've retained throughout the school year. This results in not being prepared for the up and coming school year. Students come in confused and unprepared causing them to fall behind. Imagine coming to school on the very first day and having a hard time remembering certain topics. You're ability to understand your favorite subject has slowly slipped away and the teacher is moving on to more complicated topics. This sets you back and makes it harder for you to understand the new topics being taught. If most or all of the class is confused and having a hard time, some teachers are forced to push back lessons in order to insure that everyone is caught up, while others may just move on creating further confusion. It puts teachers at an ultimatum; Should he/she risk the completion of their curriculum for the new year to help the students who couldn't retain the previous knowledge, or move on knowing that these people may not pass their class? Teachers have found a way to solve this annual issue without having to reintroduce a topic to the class. They have created summer projects. These projects usually have something to do with the new curriculum for the new school year. Whether it's a reading assignment, essay, or even a vocabulary assignment, it is all meant to prepare the students and get them thinking early. A discussion was set in motion on the topic of: Should summer projects be student-designed or teacher-designed? Summer projects should be teacher-designed because teachers know what skills all of their students need in their classroom in order to succeed and carry on with the rest of the year without any set-backs or complications.

When designing project assignments, teachers make sure that this project will develop a better understanding of a topic in the student's mind. They base it off of what skills these students need to acquire and improve their class's ability to comprehend the topic. For example, a student wouldn't know how to create a project for algebra 2 if they had just completed geometry and have no background knowldge of algebra 2. They would need a teacher's guidance and detailed directions to complete this project. This also creates a level of understanding for the student coming into the class. During the summer, students lose thought of these topics, but if teachers created projects for them during this time, they would come in fully prepared. Everyone would have an equal level of understanding because they all are prepared for the same thing. Equal opportunity is very important in a classroom because every student needs to feel like they can comprehend what they are learning in order to succeed. If students go out on their own and design their own project, they may not feel pushed to try their hardest. A teacher creates equal opportunity by creating the same guidelines for all of the students. Teachers also have experience with students in the past and know what topic to hit the hardest based on past experiences. They will design these projects to push the class to their highest potential and make sure that each student is taken care of.

Student-designed projects wouldn't be a smart idea because kids tend to do the bare minimum. If students design their own project, they wont know what topics to understand or why they are studying a certain topic. this leads to an unequal understanding of a topic which doesnt help students in the future. They might just do a little assignment that doesnt require much work or effort that doesnt challenge them just to enjoy their summer a little more. yes, some students work hard, but they all come in not knowing what exactly this new year is going to bring. Students should have the right to think on their own and create new ideas, but this should be further down the school year once the teacher is certain they understand what they are learning. For example, in my English class, our teacher made us all read and annotate the same book. once we came to class she gave us a vague writing prompt asking what the argument was in the story. Because we have all read he book and annotated it how she wanted, we were all able to write this essay and understand it. Some may argue that a student needs the freedom to learn on their own, but also need to consider the fact that not every student wants to try as hard or even challenge themselves. This is why students need a guide to show them the way in order to create a better understanding. it's a basic understanding that in order to succeed and be independent, one needs to have grasped some knowledge and relied on a teacher to have given the knowledge. This is why there are teachers in the world. they are here to be there for someone and be there as their guide because they know what is best for them in education.

To conclude this argument, teacher-based summer projects are the best way to insure a student's ability to succeed in their class. It takes out the factor of inequlity and allows the student to hold onto previous and future knowledge. This helps them undertsand what they are learning in class and reduces the risk of getting left behind. Teachers are here to guide their students to success and cannot do so if their students are lost and getting left behind. If it were student-designed, they would be least likely to push themselves to their greatest potential. They also wouldn't know what to study. These points should be cosidered in the topic discussing whether or not teacher-designed or student-designed is the best possible option for a student.