The summer assignment is a term that middle school and high school students know all too well. Not all students are assigned a project to complete over the summer, but for those that take higher level classes (a decent portion of modern high school students), there is typically some form of work that they must complete through the summer months that relates to the course they will be taking. It has been argued, though, that summer projects are far too strenuous on students, and that, if the students had the power to synthesize their own assignments to complete through June, July, and August, it may warrant less work and a generally easier time for them. However, summer assignments are better off being designed by the teachers themselves, as teachers are experts in the subject(s) they teach, teachers possess a higher level of skills in creating projects and assignments, and an inadequate project put together by students may lead to an undesired grade in the class, as the students would not be nearly as well prepared.

At the core of every class is the teacher; teachers are masters in their field, and are highly trained to answer whatever query or insight is thrown at them in their class. To put it simply, the teacher is the one who knows the material better than anyone in the room. For example, just about every teacher within the United States must obtain a degree in teaching from a four-year university, as well as extended classes in the subject that they would like to teach. Many teachers do not stop at a four-year degree though, and continue their training through a graduate program. Quite a large part of a teacher's time and life in general becomes dedicated to this training. An extensive amount of effort is exerted by these colleges and schools, as well as the teacher, to instill the subject material into the teacher's head. It is the job of the teacher at this point to relay their extensive knowledge of a subject to the students. Many teachers become knowledgeable because of their background as well; a physics teacher may have a father who is an aeronautical engineer working at NASA, or a science teacher may have a mother who is a biologist at a genetic engineering company. Because of what these teachers have been exposed to through a large portion of their life, they have gained a further understanding of the subject they will teach, and have an open attitude to learning more about it. Teachers become experts of their field, and have the knowledge necessary to assemble a project or assignment to be done over the summer that will prepare the students for the class. A student who is assembling a summer project would never possess nearly as much knowledge as a teacher has of expectations or standards of the class.

With this extended schooling comes not only a further knowledge of the teacher's subject, but an attainment of skills in designing projects and creating assignments. As mentioned above, many teachers obtain four-year degrees in preparation for their careers, but often their degree is not in the subject they teach, but in the actual field of teaching itself. These degrees teach the essential skills necessary to educate students, and one of these skills is creating assignments. Teachers spend extensive amounts of time putting together worksheets and project rubrics, pulling material from numerous sources. What better person is there to assemble a summer project, to prepare you for a class, than someone who has undergone extensive training in putting together projects and assignments? It is important to consider, though, not just training, but experience as well. Every school day, students are assigned some form of an assignment or project to complete to further their understanding of the subject, which in turn means that every school day, there is a teacher behind each one of these assignments, creating them for the students. Teachers spend large amounts of time putting together the right assignments for their students, and with this comes a mastery of the skill. Creating projects for students is one of the core tasks a teacher must do every single day, and it would be quite contradicting of a teacher to free the job of creating a summer assignment for students, to the pupils themselves, who may have never even planned a hangout with friends, or a basic schedule of their day.

As previously mentioned, students are obviously not experienced in the skill of creating an assignment. The common sophomore or junior in high school is anywhere from fifteen to seventeen years old, and has likely never faced a situation in which they had to prepare a curriculum or a rubric for someone to complete that pertains to a specific subject. If they were given the task of compiling an assignment of a subject (that they have not learned and are not extensively knowledgeable about), the outcome would not work in favor of the student. Not only would the project likely be of low quality. but the results reaped by the student from the project may set them up for failure in the class. Another important perspective to consider is the work ethic of students, or lack thereof. High school students are not disciplined enough to sit down and put together a school assignment for themselves that, not to mention, will eat into their time away from school during the summer. This would result in a sloppy project and a deficit in the student's future performance in the class.

Every school throughout the United States, and the world in general, should aim to have strictly teacher-designed summer projects. The prospect of student-designed projects could have disastrous outcomes for the students themselves. When comparing a knowledgeable and well-trained teacher's project with an uncoordinated and inexperienced student's project, the answer should be nothing but obvious. For the sake of the student, and for the sake of common sense, no summer assignment or project should ever be student-designed.