During a students summer break many go on vacation, some work, others may use their summer break to relax and have fun. During this almost three month period, do students retain information that will be needed in there upcoming school year? Most likely not, because of this some schools make it a requirement that students do summer projects to stay productive during the break. Should students be able to design there own summer project? I believe that summer projects should be teacher designed to make sure that the information is useful for the upcoming school year and every student will get the same important information.

Summer projects assigned are made in an effort to keep students proactive in a time were there isn't much learning being done. Teacher designed projects would ensure that the skills used and information given to students is useful and will make the transition into the upcoming school year easier. Who better to design projects then the people that will be teaching students the up coming year. Teachers have a schedule of what they will be teaching once students come back, therefore, they would be able to give projects that are related to the topics that will be taught in the classroom. I have personally had teacher-designed summer projects or assignments from certain classes, and have found them helpful. My government teacher assigned a packet were every student would have to give descriptions about each amendment and article of the constitution. Although in the moment I didn't understand how that would help me, I found it very helpful when the class started to talk about civil rights and court cases used as precedents. If i had the choice to design my own summer project i wouldn't know what to do, and i certainly would not have chosen to study the constitution. Teacher designed summer projects make sure each student is getting the needed information for the next school year.

A benefit of having a teacher-designed project is that everyone is learning the same information. Giving students the choice to design there own summer project may allow each student to be creative and have fun, but it also gives them the ability to neglect possible important information. For example, one student may do intensive research on the cold war and another student may do research on the civil rights movement. Both are learning over the summer, but one is more prepared for a certain topic then the other. This could confuse the first student and could cause him or her to struggle when coming back from break. Teacher designed projects would ensure that each student is on the same page and also gives him or her the opportunity to talk to peers and consult about the new information given to the student over a time were there is no teacher that could help clarify. Summer projects designed by teachers ensure that every student is getting the same important information to prepare them for the following year.

Some may say that teachers assign to much and that if students were to design the summer projects it would be better to fit into their summer schedules, but I believe if students were given that opportunity they would try to do the least and easiest amount of work. Yes, students may have things like jobs, internships or may simply be out of the country, which could make it difficult to complete teacher designed projects; but lets be honest, many kids put there summer projects off until last minute. I am guilty of this myself. When something is done last minute it is probably not gonna be that well dont, but on top of that the students are allowed to do there own thing, which could lead to many students doing the bare minimum. If each student were at liberty to do their projects as they see fit it would give him or her the liberty to put little effort into the project and not actually retain the needed information that was intended to get to them. Student designed summer projects gives students the chance to give mediocre projects and to learn unnecessary information.

In conclusion, schools should assign teacher-designed projects during the summer because it allows each student to learn the same information as his or her peers and it prepares them for the up coming year with the information the teachers knows will be important. During a students break kids should be able to have fun, but they also need to stay ready for the next school year. The best way to prepare students for a new school year over a break is by giving out teacher designed summer projects rather then student designed summer projects.

Alumni will be the most prepared with teacher designed projects compared to student designed projects when returning to school at the beginning of the school year.