Summer is a time where many students are delighted to not be in school. However, over the course of summer, many students tend to forget some of what they have learned the prior school year. In order to counter this, schools nationwide have made it a requirement for students to have summer projects so that students are still learning and retaining their knowledge over the summer. Although with this requirement, there is a discussion over whether students or teachers should be the ones designing this projects. Summer Projects should be teacher-designed because teachers know what topics they want to target, teachers are more knowledgeable in making projects, and teachers are more familiar with the course's content.

Some students argue that they should be the ones to design their summer projects because they find it more enjoyable for them to complete their projects that way. Even though this allows for more freedom and creativity in summer projects, it doesn't help that many students are hesitant in starting their projects. The last thing many students want to do is their summer school work and adding the difficulty of having to make your own project will only stress students over their projects even more. Having a uniform project with guidelines designed by a teacher will be less stressful for the students to complete because they don't have to worry about coming up with their own project.

Teachers know what areas they want to target in summer projects. For example, a Precalculus project may be a review of factoring from Algebra II as it is a nessescary skill to have mastered for that class. Teachers will tend to target skills that students will need to have mastered as a method to prepare for the upcoming school year. A majority of skills they target are ones that students forget the most and ones that students have the most difficulty on. If students were to make their own projects, there is a good chance they completely miss the areas that teachers want them to focus on. Therefore, teachers should make summer projects because they know what topics they want students to learn over the summer.

Teachers are more knowledgeable in making summer projects. For example, a Chemistry teacher would know to create a project that specifically fits Chemistry like requiring their students to make a chart of all the elements and compounds. If a student were given the right to make their own summer project and told just to do something Chemistry related, it's likely that they wouldn't be doing something as useful as creating a chart for Chemistry. This is because students just aren't familiar with creating projects that will help them in the long run. Teachers have the most experience in creating summer projects as they have been doing them for a long time and they know what works and what doesn't work. Therefore, teachers should create summer projects because they know what kinds of projects are efficient.

Teachers are more familiar with the course's content than students. The majority of students head into the school year with little knowledge of what they are going to learn about. An example of this is rising ninth grade students heading into a Biology course for the first time in their academic careers. Biology is a course that many head into without any knowledge of as it is not taught in depth prior to high school. It would only make sense that a student would not have any idea of Biology topics and is incompetent in creating a summer project over Biology. A teacher would do a much better job because they know the curriculum of the course and are able to create a project that would assist the student into getting into that curriculum. Therefore, teachers should be the ones creating summer projects because they know the curriculum to a greater degree than students do.

Overall, teachers do a better job at creating summer projects. First, they know the best topics to target in preparation for the school year. Second, they understand what kinds of projects work and don't work. Finally, they have the greatest understanding of course curriculum compared to students. It goes without saying that teachers know what they are doing when it comes to summer projects and students should just follow their teacher's instructions. The next time summer rolls around and you have a school project due, be thankful that you don't have to worry about coming up with your own project.