text: One important reason that summer projects should be student designed is the fact that creating a whole project from scratch would help a child to become a far more independent learner, and would prepare them for their later stages in life. When a student reaches college, it would be pretty overwhelming for them to have to take a bunch of classes that were all almost completely independent if they had never been given the opportunity to grow in their independence as a person in middle or high school. A student designed project might be quite scary for many students, but I think that it is definitely necessary in order to be set up for long term success in their personal endeavors throughout their later years in education, as well as their career afterwards. Many jobs are highly independent and require for somebody to be diligent in their own efforts. For example, my dad is an engineer, and he has deadlines that are agreed on by him and the people that pay him for completing work for them, and if he doesnt meet a deadline, the client would most likely not be happy and never come back to get more work done from him.