Growing up going to school, I always looked forward to summer break. It was my time to be free and to be a kid again. Going to the beach, family cookouts, and hanging out with friends are things I always looked forward to doing. Each summer would be better then the last. Until my mom got that call from my school, reminding her about our summer break project. She would bother me nonstop, asking me thousands of questions about it daily. Looking back to my past summers I never once did a student-designed project. If schools were to change summer projects to student-designed instead of teacher-designed students would do subjects that they are interested in resulting in more projects being completed and students would be able to pick a subject that they know they are good at rather then them doing something they have no experience with.

Throughout my years in school I never once did a summer project that I was truly interested in. Most projects made us read a certain book and summarize it in some unique way. Every summer, one after another, we did the same type of project. Over and over again, reading a book and summarizing it. Those projects started to get boring and some summers I didn't even do them. Students never got a choice with anything. We didn't get to choose what project we did, we didn't get to choose if we worked with a group, we didn't even get to choose what book we did our report on. If students were able to decide what we did for our summer break project the completion rate would increase dramatically. Students are getting tired of doing the same project year after year. Letting students decide what project they do would give them the option to pick subjects that they are interested in. Therefor, there would be a lot more effort and enthusiasm from the students. Overall, students would be a lot more excited to start working and complete the project. For example, if I was giving the opportunity to design my own project it would have something to do with baseball. I enjoy the game of baseball. I've been playing since I was five years old and I have loved every second of it. I promise, if I was able to do my project on baseball there is no way I'm getting anything lower then a one hundred. I know some teachers would say, "We've tried to do more interesting projects and some students just aren't going to do them." Just because you think something is interesting or exciting doesn't mean the person next to you does. Some teachers now-a-days have no idea what students enjoy.

In the past I have come across many assignments including projects, homework, and classwork that I have gotten terrible grades on because I had no idea what to do or what they were even talking about. When the teachers are designing the summer projects they are following the guidelines of their boss or school district. They don't think about how well the students know it. They don't think about the future and what the students grades are going to be. They think about one thing and one thing only, designing the project and designing it right. If students were able to design their summer project the grades would be so much better. I hate to say this but giving the students the privilege to design their own project would allow them to choose something that they have some understanding about. Students aren't going to pick a topic or subject that they have no knowledge or understanding in. That would just be foolish. For example, I'm not much of a reader so these summer projects can actually be pretty challenging for me. If I was able to create and design my own project I would do something about shoes. Shoes to me is almost like a passion or even a love. I have always enjoyed collecting shoes. I can tell you anything about any shoe model or any shoe company. Doing any project about shoes would honestly be a lot less challenging and I would have a better chance at a better grade. Teachers could say, "These projects are simple, your just reading a book and answering easy questions." What if some students can't actually read? What if some students just aren't good with English in general? Teachers need to stop categorizing all students and start looking at us one by one. Teachers should know each students strength one by one but they don't.

Summer break is a time for laughter and fun. Summer break is a break from school. Students shouldn't have to stress the fact that they have a project due on the first day of school. Specially a project that is challenging and overall boring. Teachers have no intent on making the projects interesting or easy for the students. They honestly just want to get it done so they can go on their break as well. Allowing students to design the summer break projects would be a step in the right direction.     