Some students, during a break like summer break, can forget a lot of information they have learned throughout the school year. With more schools including the addition of summer projects, this problem can be eliminated. Even so, should the responsibility of the project's design fall on the teacher or the student? Summer projects should be student-designed because it allows students to have fun and get better grades.

The first reason summer projects should be student-designed is sheer enjoyment. When a student, or anyone, has a break or vacation, they are going to want to enjoy it. Having to to do work on something students are interested in will make it that much easier for students to find time to finish the project in the first place. We all can relate to a time when we were given a piece of work that did not interest us at, but had to do it anyway. These struggles are not things students should be dealing with when on vacation.

Another reason summer projects should be student-designed is the increased chance of getting a better grade. Higher chances of getting a better grade ties in greatly with enjoyment as a cause-and-effect reaction. The reaction is if the students enjoy the projects they design, then they will more likely put effort into their projects and if they put more effort into their projects, then they are more likely get a higher grade. Most students, when receiving a project during a break, are not going to want to do said project which will lead some students to outright skip it. Self-made projects will decrease the chances of this to occur and increase the outcome from this non-occurrence.

Some may argue that teachers designing summer projects will make the content more academic and overall increase the students capacity for remembering information, but this is not the case. The most this will do for students is help them retain the information for the first small part of summer break and not the rest because they would have already stopped doing the project because it lost their interest. A goal for a project during a break should be to retain the most information whilst letting the student get the most out of their break.

In conclusion, the best way to get students engaged in a project is to make it fun. Keeping the project academic while letting the student highlight the best of their own abilities can not only make the student feel better about their own work, but feel good knowing that they are going to do great the following year.