Once school is over summer vacation starts, but not everyone is free from the work they have to do for school. Some schools believe that it is important to assign summer projects so our minds are ready for the next year. But I believe it's unfair for teachers to decide what our project is about. That's why I believe that summer projects should be created by the student and not the teacher because the student should love what their topic is about and it would give the student a sense of pride and confidence to know they can accomplish a solo project. But I also think that the teacher-designed project would be more organized.

The first reason I chose is that the student should be passionate about the topic. I believe that if a student has to do a project they don't like then the project won't be good. If you are a high school student who enjoys driving/fixing cars, and your teacher gives you a summer project about cars, you would probably feel really confident about it and start right away. But most likely, your teacher is going to give you a project on

How To Kill a Mockingbird and your going to feel really stressed and/or nervous. I remember once in my life, one of my coaches told me that "If your mind is not ready to lead, then your body won't follow." Even thought he was probably talking about executing the physical and mental tolls of playing a sport, it fits right in with what i'm talking about. If a student is not passionate or doesn't love their project, then there's not really a source of motivation that's making them do it. This could lead to weeks and even months of felling stressed, nervous, feeling uncomfortable with the subject, and even procrastination. This could also lead the student to believing that they are stupid or unfit to continue in advanced level classes, which I know that no teacher wants that to happen to any of their students.

The second reason I chose is that it would make the student really proud of themselves if they knew that they could create, produce, and execute a project all by themselves. I believe that if a person has full artistic control over a project, then they will be happy with their product and satisfied with their effort. It's the same feeling when a woodworker makes a table, or a home cook makes a cake from scratch. You can buy any of theses items at a store, but it's the feeling that you have the power to make it with your hands and your imagination and that's exactly how I want the students to feel. When I was 10th grade, every single tenth grader had to complete a project called the MYP (Mid-Year Personal Project). Many of the upper class men called it one of the hardest projects you'll ever do in high schools, and many of them said they didn't pass it, so I was very nervous. Even though it wasn't a summer project it still nearly six months to complete, but when I was done I was very happy with the work I did. When I was done I was also happy with the score I received, but the only reason I got that score was because the teacher allowed us to pick a topic you were either interested/passionate about and the topic I picked was coins. This also ties back into my previous talking point. If a student completes a project that they created, then they will get a sense of pride. This could lead to a boost in confidence, an increase of knowledge, and a stronger work ethic. This could also be enough to persuade them that their smart enough to compete with the other kids.

The third reason I picked, however, was that teachers have a better ability to organize a project. Even with all the proof I have given above, teachers still have a knowledgeable advantage over students. If a student starts a project and the first thing they do is research, they can be overwhelmed with all the information they received and not know how to organize it. Plus, if you think about all the ways you can choose to display your information it can get confusing. But when teachers give you a project, they most likely have everything already set for you so you can do your project. This includes what the bases of the projects about, how you have to display your project, what cites you can/can't use, and they'll even give you a rubric so you can compare what you have to what score you might get. You also can't forget how much time, money, and effort teachers have put into getting a degree in their field, so they know what their talking about.

Based on the information that I have just explained above are why students should create their own summer project. The reasons are that a student should love the topic that their researching and completing their own project would give student the sense of accomplishment that they can do bigger things. But we also have to think about how teachers are very thorough when it comes to assignments and they probably have everything planned out.