For students, summer break is a time where school is just a figment of their imagination. Once school is out and summer begins, students dispose of the material they have obtained during the year to make room for the amazing memories of the summer. Teachers and staff know that learning is not what is on a child's mind when school is out of session, so they create summer projects to ensure that their students are still gaining knowledge even when school is out. Summer projects should be teacher-designed because they will base it off of necessary topics, be able to decipher between strengths and weaknesses of students, and challenge the students beyond their comfort zone.

Over the summer, teachers create the curriculum that will be used to educate their students throughout the oncoming school year. Therefore, they know exactly what the students need to learn in order to progress, so it would be logical for teachers to design the projects instead of the children. The teacher will include necessary information and focus on topics that are vital to the education of their students. Schoolchildren are unaware of what the next school year may bring, so if they were to make the projects it would be centered around the wrong ideas and it would be useless and not beneficial to them.

As previously stated, teachers will provide students with important information in order to prepare them for the next school year. When teachers construct these summer projects, they will include challenging material to test the student's knowledge on particular topics. When the children's work is complete and submitted, it allows the teacher to point out strengths and weaknesses of their students. Knowing what subjects students struggle with and also strive in enables the teacher to instruct on the level of the class. Changes can be made to the curriculum and material in order to cater to the needs of the students.

Some may say that if the projects were student-designed, it would push them to complete the work because they were allowed a say-so in what had to be done. However, students may only focus on what topics they are extremely comfortable and familiar with because it is the easiest option. Learning occurs when one gains knowledge on things they did not know beforehand, so if they work on topics they are fond of, no learning will take place. In addition, students may not want to expand upon what they already know and challenge themselves because it is summer break, their time to be free. They are likely to do the minimum in order to be done so it leaves available time for more road trips and vacations.

In conclusion, summer projects should be teacher-designed because they will include important topics, be able to see what students need assistance with, and challenge students beyond what they are comfortable with. Schoolchildren do not know the topics that will be lectured upon in the oncoming year, so they are not fully eligible to create work on things they need to learn about. Also, students are likely to do the bare minimum to allow them time to do other things besides schoolwork.