Summer Projects

By: Generic_Name

Students are in school for 7 hours a day, 45 hours a week, 180 hours a month, and 180 days a year which is a very long time. Many schools in the United States require students to complete a project/assignment to assure that they keep learning over the summer. Students usually feel overwhelmed and stressed about these summer projects because of having to do assignments during their break. I believe that summer projects should be student designed because it allows students to freely choose a topic and not be stressed or worried throughout the whole summer.

When students get assigned summer projects they usually ignore or not do them because the topic might be too boring, hard to do, takes a long time, etc. That's mainly because our teachers don't let them be student designed projects. Student designed projects are when the student gets to choose their own topic, do the work they want to do, and do everything based on what they want. Students hope that it could be student designed projects so it could take some weight off their shoulders and making it a topic they are comfortable with.

Counter Claim: Summer projects should be teacher designed because not all students have great decision making abillities and don't have the skillset to do a project without the teachers help. If it were student designed then they would most definitly go off topic or show poor work and effort on the project. Teacher designed projects are when the teacher is in control. For example, they choose the topic, they choose what research you need to do, they choose if its an essay or a presentation, etc. Teacher designed projects help students get ready for the upcoming school year and what they are gonna be learning in class.

Student designed projects can help the students by learning how to do things on their own, help them gain amazing decision making skills, and gain experiences to help them later on in life. When the teacher's in control for everything then the student may lack in motivation or the will to even do the project. These projects can't help a student grow and learn if they are restricted to certain things that they can and can't do. Students should have the ability to do summer projects on their own with no stress and/or no restrictions.

In sum, students get assigned projects or assignments to take home over the summer so that they could keep learning even during the break. Schools usually make these projects designed by the teacher(s). I believe that these projects should be student designed because summer is meant to be our break, we shouldn't have to have stress or anxiety because of these projects during our summer. Student designed projects can help us gain experiences as a student that we would never learn if they were teacher designed. They also help students feel that they are in control and it could help a student thrive to higher expectations.