Projects, a word that some people enjoy and others despise. Over the summer some students are required to do a project to help them learn over their break. However, most of the time the teacher is the one to design the project, but I believe that it is best for the student to design the project. If the student is allowed to design the project they will have some interest in their chosen topic, be able to show their creativity, and will feel less pressured when presenting their work.

When doing a school project it can be really boring, but that is because it is mostly a topic that your teacher chose for you, which will probably be based on what you are currently learning. If the student could choose what they wanted to learn about then they would want to do it more. For example, a teacher asks you to write an essay on a story you just read but didn't enjoy then you will feel like you just want to do the minimum amount of work and not put effort into it, but if it was a story you wanted to talk about then you would go into more detail when writing because you would likely want to share it with other people. Another example is when choosing a class, if your parents wanted you to take art and you didn't like to draw, then you would either fail, not try, or just hate the class. However, if you choose to do art then you will want to work harder in that class because it is something you enjoy doing.

Coming up with ideas can be a difficult task for some, but telling students to create a project will help make them become more of a creative thinker. If you gave someone a problem they will try to come up with solutions to fix it, and this will help a them show some creativity to come up with a solution. An example would be if you told students there is a problem with a nearby lake and ask them to think of ways to fix it. It will make the students think about what could cause the problem and ways to fix it.

Teachers giving the same topic to lots of students can case some to feel more pressure then if it was their own project. The reason is if everyone needs to present the same thing, if someone makes a mistake or lies about something then everyone will know. Even if a person doesn't know about the mistake there will be someone who does and may call the presenter out on it. However, if every student is presenting a different topic then they will teach people about something they might not have known before.

There are still some that believe that the teacher should design the project. These people may argue that this will help a student stay on topic and ensure that a student will do something challenging to them. While that may be true, some people might not like the topic chosen and will either not do it or find a way to make it easier to do. Another argument is that some students might just choose a topic that someone else is doing and will copy all the work. If a teacher gives everyone the same project as each other then people could copy off on one another much easier, since its all about the same thing.

Students should be the ones designing their summer projects. This will give them a chance to tell others about their interests, help students develop more creative problem solving skills, and will make students more comfortable sharing about their topic.