It is time to rethink traditional education: Some schools require students to complete teacher-designed summer projects to ensure that students continue to learn throughout their break. However, these summer projects should instead be designed by students because students will be more invested in their project if they design it themselves, it will allow students to think outside of the box, and it will lead to a more productive academic year.

Students should design their own summer projects because it will enable them to be more invested in their project. Whenever a student is assigned a project by their instructor, they usually attempt to complete the project as quickly and effortlessly as possible. Obviously, the goal of a summer project is to enrich student knowledge and improve academic continuity. Therefore, thrusting a graded assignment onto a student's shoulders during their well-deserved break time can lead to a decrease in student interest and effort (especially if students have no choice in deciding the project) and destroy a student's academic drive before the next school year even begins. On the other hand, if students were given the opportunity to develop and plan their project themselves, it will lead to increased student interest and effort because the student will most likely choose a project that interests them. For example, if a student is aspiring to be a front-end website designer and enrolls in a science class with a teacher-designed summer project that demands all students adhere to the same standard of creating a printed booklet on any element from the periodic table (such as Neon), then the future-web-designer student will quickly lose interest in the project and will attempt to complete the project with as little effort as possible. However, if the student was able to design their own summer project for this hypothetical science class, they will most likely choose a project that aligns with their hobby/interest of web design and build an amazing website detailing the history and uses of Neon, rather than a mediocre black-and-white printed booklet with information paraphrased from Wikipedia. In this manner, the project will still align to the core subject curriculum, but will allow the student much more space to explore their interests and continue learning with increased effort. Also, because there are multiple students in a class (each with unique interests and hobbies), this virtually eliminates the risk of plagiarism or cheating, since no two student projects (or interests) will be exactly the same.

Students should have the ability to design summer projects themselves because they will be able to think outside of the box. Consider the previous example of the hypothetical future-web-designer-student. If that student was required to create a printed booklet for science class over the break, they will most likely do just that (and nothing more) because the teacher-designed project guidelines limit them. However, if the student had the opportunity to develop their own project, it would enable them to be more creative and thus think outside of the box. Being required to type and print out a booklet with information on any one element on the periodic table (in double-spaced Times New Roman font with normal margins) confines students to making sure that their project adheres strictly to the rubric, and thus limits student creativity and ability to think outside of the box. If students were instead instructed to demonstrate their knowledge of an element on the periodic table using any means necessary, and informed that their grade was not dependent on a rubric, but on effort, then teachers will begin to see higher-quality submissions.

If students are allowed to design their own summer projects, it will lead to a more productive academic year. This is simply because students will feel at ease knowing that their summer project will not be boring (because they will be designing their own projects) and will have a good first impression of their instructor as an individual who values quality (effort) over quantity (point-based rubrics). If students arrive on their first day of school with this positive impression of the class, it will enable them to be productive from day one.

Some may argue that it is impossible to grade a student based on effort. However, it is easy to tell whether a student puts effort into something. Similar to the real-word workforce (where employee competence is not determined by standards or grades, but rather by effort and the work they produce and any unexpected problems that they solve), instructors should be able to tell if a student's work is satisfactory or unsatisfactory, and should grade accordingly. Furthermore, if a student designs their own project, the student will most likely present their project using a medium that they are most comfortable with. In this case, most student work should be exemplary due to the fact that students are able to choose their project, rather than the project being forced upon them. Additionally, some may also argue that if students design their summer projects, then the project will not align to core curriculum standards. Fortunately, this is simply not the case because there are many methods to ensure that a student's project meets certain minimum requirements. The most practical method would be for each student to set up an appointment with the instructor during their free time (such as a student study hall block or instructor planning period) before the summer break begins (either in-person or virtually, using a video conferencing tool) so that the teacher can be aware of the student's plans and advise the student on ways to improve their project plan. At the end of the day, schools are preparing students for a real-world workplace environment, and schoolwork should reflect that.

Students should design their own summer projects because it will lead to increased student interest, creativity, and productivity.