When was the last time you have been assigned a project over summer break? My last summer project was this past summer. It was a history project that took me days to complete. All I remember was dreading to work on the project because I already knew the information that it was about. Instead of the summer project being only a review, it should have been both a review and new information. Students get bored learning the same thing over and over again. They need something to help them for the upcoming year as they enter a new class. Therefore, summer projects should be student-designed because students would learn better, use their creative ability, and be more motivated to complete the project.

Summer projects should not be about keeping the student busy. They should be about preparing the student for the new class along with helping the student retain past information. If the projects were student-designed, then students would be more likely to learn better. When I was in tenth grade, our task was to create our own project based off a certain number of topics that were given to us. I chose to do my project about World War Two. Since I chose something that I am interested in, I learned a lot of new information and information that I already knew. If I was assigned a project about old civilizations, then I probably wouldn't have learned as well as I did. This is a prime example showing how a student-designed project will help a student learn better.

Creativity is something that is difficult to express for students. There are very little opportunities to express who you really are in school. Every small chance that a student gets to show their personality is an opportunity. This is another reason why summer projects should be student-designed. Furthermore, if a summer project was student-designed, then that student will have a ton of opportunities to create something that represents them. For example, an artsy student might pick a project that involves drawing or painting. An athletic student might pick a project that involves a challenge. Finally, a studious student might do a project that has a lot of work. The possibilities are endless. Having each and every student express who they are can inspire many in and out of school. This is only the second reason why summer projects should be student-designed.

The last reason summer projects should be student-designed is because the students would be more motivated to complete the project. Summer is the only time that students have a long-tern break. They don't think about school or learning too often. The last thing they want to think about is another project that their teacher assigned to them. Their motivation to complete this project is very low. The only way to help motivate students would be to allow the project to be student-designed. It needs to be a project that they will enjoy doing. It can't be just another project that the teacher assigns just because why not. Last year, in chemistry, I was allowed to pick my project for my end of year science research project. I picked a topic that I wanted to see the outcome of. Throughout the entire project, I was motivated to complete it. This is because I chose what I wanted to do. Some people might say that a student can be motivated to complete a project even if it is teacher-designed. The counter to this is that when a student designs a project that they are interested in, the likelihood for that student to complete the project increases greatly. This is because they know what they want to learn about and what is interesting for them. Every little bit of motivation can help a student learn more than they thought.

As you can see, student-designed projects are way better than boring teacher-designed projects. These were only just a few reasons why student-designed projects are better. Now that you know which one is better, I encourage all people to advocate around their community to make this a reality. Every student should be able to do a project on what they want to learn about. If we all used our voice to express our thoughts, then our planet would be a much better place in and outside of school.