Everyone looks forward to the long break before school starts again called summer. But, as we are away from school for so long, some of the knowledge we have accumulated over the school year will not be encoded properly and by the time school starts up again, it will have already been forgotten. That is why some schools require their students to complete summer projects, to ensure that they are still learning during summer. The question is if their summer projects should be designed by the teacher or the student. I believe the projects should be designed by the teacher. The teacher has prior experience, more knowledge, and more time to design the project.

If the student is required to create this assignment, then they should be given preporation time during the school year to ask questions to see what the expectations are for the project. Since a teacher has already taught the course, it should be easier for them to come up with easy to follow directions, so that the student will not be challenged too hard and will enjoy learning the topic. They also have past experience with the summer project, so they know the most efficent way the project should be set up.

In order to design the summer project you would need plenty of time, which many students do not have extra time on their plates to handle the pressure of designing this summer assignment. In my case, every spare second is spent cramming for a quiz or test, or spent reviewing a topic I did not quite understand. If I had the option to create a summer project or complete a teacher-designed project, I would choose the teacher based one. It would assure me that I would be learning everything correctly and take the pressure out of my hands.

If I had to design a project about a topic I knew nothing about, I would be put in a huge disadvantage. The teacher has more knowledge on the subject the summer project is on; therefore, they have a slight advantage. They will know how to word things properly and not over-simplify the directions. A student might make the project too simple and not take it too seriously. They will not have any supervision on the creating process and when school comes around their project might not be eligible for submission. When I had to do the summer enrichment packets for my advanced placement classes over the summer, I had no knowledge about the topics I was learning about. I would have been at such a disadvantage if I had to create a summer project all on my own, based off information I barely knew.

The schools should let the students continue learning over their break, by allowing them to complete teacher-designed summer projects. These projects will be made based of prior knowledge and experience, reassuring the student that they will be learning the correct information, the proper way. The students will be able to procede with their studies the right way over summer break.