Summertime; it is every high schooler's favorite time of the year. Summer is supposed to be a time of warm, sunny days, and endless nights. Summer is also supposed to be a time of no teachers or school, only fun. However, for many students this is unfortunately not the case. It is very common for schools across America, and even across the world to impose mandatory summer projects on their students. These projects are designed to attempt and ensure that pupils retain their knowledge over break so they will be prepared for the upcoming school year. While they may be helpful, these projects certainly put a bit of a damper on those summer nights young folk so dearly regard. Difficult summer projects loom over restless teenagers like a tyrant. It becomes easy for anxiety to replace fun-loving spirit when teachers assign summer projects of boisterous proportions. Hard projects during a time of joy are also statistically less likely to take priority over their counterpart. This is why summer projects should be student-designed.

Student-designed projects would be an ideal choice for schools to to implement because they would allow students to feel more relaxed over the summer and enjoy their break. While most definitely a debatable topic, one is inclined to believe that students work extremely hard all year, and summertime is one of the few non-stressful moments they receive. If students could design their own projects it would lessen the pressure and anxiety of completing a task that they know could impact their future. If teachers were to give their students a rough set of requirements and allow them to creatively come up with a project, not only would they be much more enthusiastic about said project, but also much more likely to put in quality time to ensure their best work is put forth. Teenagers have some of the highest anxiety and depression rates of all age groups, and summertime is the one time of year where they are not pressured by constant school-work assigned by teachers. It is unfair and downright cruel to take this away from them.

Another reason student-designed projects are beneficial is that student-designed tasks have higher completion rates. This means that if teenagers are doing something that they want to do, it is much more likely to be completed than a task they deem boring. Not a single person on this beautiful planet of ours has the exact same interests. If students were allowed to create a piece based off of one of their interests, that piece is going to get done. When you allow for passion in a workplace, the results are outstanding. For example, a student who has an interest in photography could be assigned a summer project for their ecology class. This student could then create a portfolio of different types of plants and animals they encountered over the summer. To make this project educational, they could including a listing of the different species along with some details about their respective characteristics. A differing student in the same class who takes an interest in athletics, could take specimens of grasses and dirt from playing fields. From here, they could examine the biology and impact of the different types of sports fields on their respective sports.

In all, student-designed projects are a much smarter alternative to traditional teacher-designed projects. Allowing students to designate their own projects will lead to less stress, which results in a higher rate of project accomplishment as well as an increase in quality. Schools worldwide should allow for student-designed projects if they value passionate, complete, and quality work, furthermore if they value the happiness and well-being of their students. Any educational institution hopefully holds stake in all these virtues. In conclusion, schools that require summer work should only assign student-designed projects if they want success. 