The education system is designed around the process of preparing children for successful living in society, whether that is pursuing higher education or entering the working world. In reality, students are unlikely to actually use most of the information taught to them during primary education, so school is a method of building skills that can be used for life rather than facts and ideas that are actually necessary. When examining a summer project, it can be assumed that learning is encouraged for the purpose of keeping these necessary skills free from decay, so these projects should be student-designed because they hone important skills regardless of the origin of their design, give students a sense of freedom and responsibility, and encourage children to learn information that they are actually interested in.

If a project is to be completed during the summer, it is unlikely that the information that the student must learn is specific to one area. If the knowledge is going to be general, then the focus of the research is unimportant, due to the fact that the basis of the project is to build skills rather than to build knowledge. It would make sense to let the students design the project if the focus is unimportant, because the skills needed for the project, like responsibility and discipline, would still be reinforced regardless. However, if the information that the student must learn is specific to one area, the student-designed process makes even more sense, because a student would better know how they learn then a teacher, which would allow them to create a design that better suites their needs for academic improvement.

If the freedom to design their own project is given to a student, it will create a sense of responsibility due to the fact that they must take ownership of a project that is not only of their own creation, but of their own design. This increase in responsibility will create better results from most students, because they must put more effort into the project to not only earn a good grade, but to also earn a sense of accomplishment from a well-done project that they solely created. The stress that this causes can also be a motivating factor that interrupts the natural process of procrastination that most students fall victim to during their summer break. Student-designed projects will create, or at least improve, a child's sense of accomplishment and self-fulfillment, an area that is widely ignored in the educational field.

Perhaps the most obvious reason to allow student-designed summer projects is the opportunity this gives students to pursue information that interests them. Children are often pressured to identify their interests from an early age, and the common overlook made by schools is that children are not often given opportunities to explore new things, and are rarely given a chance to make decisions based on what they want. They will produce better results when given freedom and are made to feel like their opinion actually makes a difference. If a student has interest in one academic field but not another, it would make no sense to stifle their passion and have them create a project that is just mediocre compared to encouraging their interest and receiving a spectacular product.

Referring to the building of skills mentioned before, a worker who is passionate about their career is going to be leagues more productive than a worker who is not. Primary school is about building academic skills rather than the accumulation of facts and is about creating a passion for learning in students. For these reasons, schools have no reason not to allow summer projects to be designed by students. 