A student presents their self-designed science project: it is a box of dry ice and a research paper on the properties of the peculiar substance. The project has a valid topic, but it is almost irrelevant to the curriculum of the class. A month later, the student realizes that the summer project should have been some sort of a review of the graphing unit last year---which they had forgotten completely. A summer project is meant to preserve the necessary knowledge from the year before and to prepare the student for the upcoming year. If the project's design includes and practices irrelevant information, then its purpose is completely undermined. In order to avoid this, a summer project should be designed by teachers instead of students because they know the curriculum well, will take it seriously, and can use it as an opportunity to set the expectations for the upcoming school year.

It is most logical and effective for a teacher to design summer projects. As the people who teach the class, teachers are the ones who will know what skills the students must practice in order to succeed in the class.

Therefore, there is no one better fit to prepare the students than the teacher. Only they have the knowledge and expertise to coordinate what the class will require and what the students will be able to give. In Michigan, a student designed a summer project for math, but upon arrival to school, they realize that they focused on the least prevalent and useful topic. It would have been considerably more beneficial to the student if the project were designed according to the curriculum of the class. However, the students simply do not know the curriculum like the teachers do. If they have never taken the class, they would not know what they supposed to focus on for a summer assignment. The teacher, however, would and should be the one to design summer projects.

A student would not treat a summer project with as much seriousness as a teacher would. Through observation, it can be seen that the majority of the teen population does not stay ambitious or dedicated to school during the summer time. Due to this, it makes no sense why teachers would trust students to dedicate their time and effort into designing a well-thought out project instead of dismissing it so that they may enjoy their summer. Teens want to forget about school as summer time comes around, they do not want to spend it preparing for more school. For instance, if a student has the choice between an easy project or a truly helpful, but complicated and tedious project, observation shows that they are most likely to choose the easier option. Teachers should design the project because they would not be as tempted to simplify the project for the sake of their own self desires like students may. In the earlier situation, teachers would most likely choose the harder project because they know it would benefit the students in the long run. Since teachers would be more responsible and serious with the project, they are the ideal designers for it.

A summer project would show students what to expect during the school year if they were designed by teachers. For example, a highly detailed and extensive project would indicate a rigorous class. The projects are an opportunity for teachers to introduce and exemplify the expectations of the students---in this case, high expectations. This sneak peek into class life would hopefully prevent unpreparedness from students and help the class run more smoothly. Teacher-designed projects have also been shown to benefit students by preventing a switch of classes during the school year: a junior at Generic_School decides to switch out of her Spanish 5 class during the summer after attempting the summer assignment. If it were designed by the teacher, it would be just like assignments from the class itself. This demonstrates the advantage of having the opportunity to work on an assignment that mirrors the work done in a possible class: a student essentially gains the ability to do a test run to see if they like it or not. That junior would have gotten stuck in the class and performed poorly if it were not for the summer assignment. Therefore, summer assignments should be designed by teachers to give students an idea of what to expect and what is expected of them.

Teachers are the best fit to design summer assignments for students because, unlike teens with only fun and relaxation on their minds who would not take the project seriously, teachers can create an assignment that will prepare the student for the specified curriculum and demonstrate what they expect from them. This should have tremendous benefits when it comes to student preparedness, class switches, and student success. A student-designed project may sound like a good idea because it opens up the opportunity for students to be creative and show what they know, however, in reality, most students simply will not put enough effort into it. Perhaps if teenagers were more passionate about school during the summer it would work, but until then, teachers remain the best candidate for designing summer assignments.