Summer assignments are dreaded by students from any school almost anywhere. These long-paged, seemingly endless, and difficult assignments are planned and made by teachers and are given to students to complete and as a form of review for the students for the upcoming course. This review, for the students, is of utmost importance as it ensures the readiness level of the students for the course that they have enrolled themselves in. Teachers should plan and design the summer assignments because a teacher-designed assignment ensures the working standard and a level of difficulty that parallels the course-work, it also ensures that the material concurs with the curriculum of the class, and it is pushes students to have a motivation to do the work as repercussions of not doing it is very much possible.

Summer assignments need to have a standard of difficulty as the assignment is meant to build the student up for the difficulty of the course that they are enrolled in. By making these assignments teacher-designed they are more likely to be similar in difficulty to the course and the work given in that specific class. For example, a summer assignment designed by teachers for AP Biology may be more related to the difficulty of the course work. Whereas, one that is student designed may be easier and may take less effort to complete as students wish to not do certain assignments and make school easier whenever they can. This is however hurting them since the neglect in doing extra work can prohibit the student from being ready for the course.

Summer assignments are often designed by teachers to ensure that the material concurs with the course and the topics discussed throughout the year. This is very important as having a summer assignment that deals with nothing related to or discussed in the course can be of no use to anyone. By having it teacher-designed, the topics discussed throughout the year in class can be prepared for by completing the summer assignment. For example, if the summer project for AP Biology was student-designed it may include a review on neurons and brain structure, but the course or teacher may never touch on that topic at all, therefore, making the entire summer assignment a waste of time and energy.

Another benefit to having teachers design and make summer assignments is to have a certain motivation to complete the project/assignment. If the project was student made, students would not care enough to complete it as they don't see the long-term benefits to doing the assignment. However, if the assignment was teacher-made, the students have a responsibility of completing the assignment to ensuring a good grade in the class. This overlying fear of the teacher getting mad over uncompleted assignments pushes students to complete the assignment even though there is no one actively reminding them over the course of 2-3 months. This powerful fear of repercussions of not completing something is the same as in a job. If an employee was to ignore what the manager had set and stated, they may get fired. But if the employee is self-employed, productivity is low as they get easily distracted and there is no overlying factor to push them to complete certain things.

Some may say that having student-designed responses are important in fostering student growth and creativity. Yet this point is viewed incorrectly as having a student design the assignment may boost creativity in the short-term. But in the long-run it may hurt grades or lead to dropouts. This is the same principle of practice makes perfect. Without any review or practice of the material, the standard of the student is brought down. Creativity can be grown in many other forms such as art, game-design, and other forms. Having students design a summer project is more hurtful than beneficial to the student.

These feared, dreaded, neglected, and unwanted assignments are seen, universally, as the pain of summer. However when these assignments are given, they are intended to foster growth and ensure the retaining of useful information. While many may see them as the bane of their existence, these assignments are very beneficial for the student in the long run. These assignments are often teacher designed to ensure a working standard of difficulty, parallel the curriculum of the course, and to have an overlying motivation to complete the assignment. While some argue that these assignments should be student-designed, we should remind ourselves, young adult minds are very bad at looking at the long-term benefits of things and only see the short-term goods that are gifted. Is a failing grade in a college class worth the negligence that is given towards summer projects/assignment?