Over summer break, some schools have their students do projects so then they can keep their brains trained over the period of time they are away from school. These projects are beneficial for students to keep learning throughout their summer break. The question here lies in whether these projects should be designed by the teachers or by the students. Some people think that if it is teacher designed, then it will give students more incentive to get the projects done. That is not the case for most students in this day and age. Summer projects should be designed by students because it will allow students to do the projects they are actually interested in, motivate these students to do their projects, and allow students to move at their own pace.

Whenever students are given the chance to be creative with what they are doing in school, they get really excited about it. If we start doing that with these summer projects, they will want to do them and have fun with it instead of it being forced onto them. It will give them something to look forward to working on, not something they are just drudging through in order to get an A on it. When students are forced to do something they do not want to do, it will give them even more of a reason to not do it. If they got to choose what subject they want to do for these summer projects, it will make them more interested in doing it.

Students these days see summer break as a cool off period to start a new year. Some spend their time just sitting around and using this time to relax or spend time with friends and have fun. Then they get hit with these gigantic projects that they do not want to spend their summer doing. If these projects were student led then it will make students more motivated to actually finish them. If they were led by teachers, then students would just procrastinate until the last minute and go into the school year stressed about the grade they got for it. Then it would make their mentality starting the new year lowered.

Most students learn at a different pace compared to others. So if you make each student do the same exact projects as each other, then it won't be tailored to one individual student. Then they would lose interest in it and not do the project. If you want students to succeed, then you should make a system where they have more freedom to do things that intrigue them instead of making them have to fit a certain mold. If they are allowed to make their own decisions with what they are learning, then they will start being motivated to do their work.

While some schools allow their students to decide what summer project they do, there are other schools that are more strict about it and have the teachers making all the decisions on someones education. This is an unhealthy way to educate children by not letting them express their creativity and not letting them think outside of the box. If we don't let students use their imagination, they would become carbon copies of one another and that is not how education should be. While some argue that teachers should control projects, the healthier alternative is to give students that option instead so they could be more motivated.