Have you ever been assigned a project that you did not want to work on? This regularly happens to many students, due to a variety of reasons. Although summer projects are slightly different than those assigned during the school year, they cause similar problems. The student might have been lazy, did not have enough time to work on the project, or the topic did not interest them. While schools cannot help much with the former two reasons, they can with the latter reason. Teacher-designed projects can be biased, affecting the student's ability to gain a wide understanding of a topic. Additionally, teachers tend to assign projects on topics that students do not see much importance in, as the topic does not seem to affect the student in any way. For these reasons, summer projects should be student-designed to allow students to be more passionate about the project, be creative, and be more self-reliable.

Student-designed projects allow students to be passionate about the topic they are working on, causing them to work efficiently. When students are assigned teacher-designed projects, they are not usually excited to work on the assignment. Additionally, they do not value it as important, leaving the work until the last minute. For example, in 7th grade, my Life Science class was assigned a project about the deer population in Virginia. Many of the students did not actively work on the project, as they found the topic boring. Because they did not understand the relevance of the topic, the students were not passionate about the project. An independent project assigned in my AP Lang class, however, had a different result. The assignment was to write a research paper on a social issue that interested us. Because students were able to write about an issue that interests them, they actively worked on the project. Being passionate about a project also affects a student's performance in class. For example, because the majority of the class was not passionate about the deer project, they did not do well on it. However, on the AP Lang assignment, the majority of the class did well on related assignments, as they were passionate about the projects they worked on.

Summer projects designed by students allow for creativity. Students are able to express themselves, as they are not restricted by strict guidelines the way they are with teacher-designed projects. Because of this reason, students are more likely to actively work on the project and put in more effort. For example, my AOS biology class was assigned a project to research and present information about a group of proteins. We were allowed to present this information in any way we wanted, allowing for creativity. The majority of the students were very excited to work on the project, as they thought of fun ways to present their information. Some students created songs to relay their information, whereas others made fun videos to do so. A few students even baked cakes to provide information about their proteins. Each student actively worked on their project and put in effort to make sure it was done well. The element of creativity allowed the students to see the assignment as a fun project, rather than as a boring task. Because the majority of the students worked hard on the project, they did well on it. Furthermore, they effectively retained the information they researched, allowing them to do well on the corresponding test.

By allowing projects to be student-designed, schools allow students to develop a sense of self-reliance. This is because the students have to conduct their own research in order to find a topic that interests them, rather than just receive a topic from the teacher. For example, in elementary school, students come up with their own experiments to test, after which they present their findings at the science fair. By doing so, students learn how to depend on themselves to find information. Similarly, sophomores at the Generic_School take a research class. They work on a wide variety of projects that are mostly assigned by teachers, but towards the end of the year, they must come up with an independent research project that they will work on in their junior year. In order to choose their project, students have to conduct extensive research to understand the topic, as their project cannot have been done before. Additionally, they have to continue conducting research in junior year to allow for a wider understanding of the topic. This allows the students to be self-reliant, as they know more about their project than their teacher, who acts as a mentor. Self-reliance is a very important skill that helps people succeed in the community and workplace when they become an adult, so it is important to establish the skill early on.

Some people may believe that allowing students to design their own projects creates more work for teachers, putting stress on them. The teachers cannot have a uniform grading rubric and must have enough background knowledge on each student's topic in order to grade them fairly. However, by allowing summer projects to be student-designed, teachers do not have to come up with a topic themselves. Additionally, they are exposed to a wide variety of projects, allowing them to be more interested in the presented material. This allows teachers to be more likely to grade the projects fairly, as they do not have to repeatedly look at the same information.

In conclusion, self-designed projects allow students to be passionate about the topic, resulting in the creation of better projects. Students can demonstrate their creativity, allowing them to effectively retain the learned information. They also become more self-reliant, which will help them when they get a job. Rather than assigning teacher-designed projects over the summer, schools should assign student-designed projects to stimulate learning, as well as shape students to gain skills that will help them succeed when they become an adult.