Imagine that your summer has begun and school is finally out. As months pass, you aren't concerned with work. Although, that is, until you remember your summer project for school! If only the project was student based, where there is more freedom in thinking and idea making. That said, Summer projects designed by students would be most beneficial because students can show what they know, develop independent and creative ideas, and can apply their strengths and weaknesses according to how they learn the best.

Teachers and parents alike may agree that it is more beneficial to have teacher designed projects, since they have more structured experience as well as having mastered the material. While this is a valid argument, with teacher designed projects, not all student's learning needs can be catered to. This is because every child has different strengths and weaknesses with different thought processes, especially having been away from school material for that period of time. Also, although teachers may have better structure and organization with their ideas having more experience, students need to develop those independent thinking and idea making skills for their higher education and overall knowledge. This said, teacher's should not be the ones to design summer projects.

To begin, students can show what material they already know and or have mastered by designing their own summer projects. Although projects can be designed to challenge students, having students show what they know and have mastered can help the teacher understand where they stand on certain issues and in different subjects.

Take a professional athlete for example, such as Olympic gymnast, Gabby Douglass. In her years of practice, Gabby has been asked to make up her own floor routines to show off what skills she has already mastered. When competing, this gives Gabby a chance to both show her instructors and judges what she knows, and therefore, what new skills she can work on later, after she has mastered those demonstrated skills. This can therefore be applied to a summer project in the way that after practicing a skill for however long, a student can show off their mastery for that skill, as well as setting aside the skills they will need to work on in the future when designing their own projects.

Secondly, with student designed projects, students can be independent and creative in their thinking and ideas.

This independence is valued by students, as it gives them a chance to think for themselves and come up with new and valid ideas that they may not have been given otherwise. For example, when women were granted the right to vote almost one hundred years ago, their thinking and ideas did not fit with the structure already in place in society for hundreds of years. For those hundreds of years, women were not given the chances and opportunities to be independent until they worked to prove their ideas to be valid. Although this does not directly relate to school, it provides a great example as to an individual student being able to use their independent thinking to create great ideas that can benefit them now and in the far future.

Finally, students know their strengths and weaknesses and can apply these when designing summer projects, depending on how they learn the best. Once summer has begun, students are away from their normal learning environments, which may make it challenging to succeed in some areas of their learning. This is also because every child has a different or varying learning style. For example, I am a very visual and hands on learner. I prefer writing on paper and being artistic in the way I present my work, and learn best that way. If the project designed by a teacher is using computers to do math online, I'd be at a disadvantage compared to another student who may excel in math and using technology together. This makes it harder for each student to be learning and succeeding at the same rate. Therefore, projects designed by students can be self paced, catering to each individual's learning strengths, weaknesses and differences.

During summer, students should be able to be independent in their own ideas and thinking regarding school material. Schools and administration should grant students that independence in their individual learning and let them take the initiative of showing what they know, how they can form ideas and prove their overall independence in designing their own summer projects as they grow in their school careers.