Summer means sun and fun; for some students, it also means summer assignments.

By Christopher Gabrylczyk and Megan Nelson

As the end of the school year approaches, summer assignments are beginning to be handed out to students. These assignments may be described as extra work; they however have a certain purpose for the class students are taking, even if the purpose seems to be pointless in the students’ eyes.

Most AP classes and some pre-AP classes utilize this tool in order to accomplish certain things. “As an advanced educator, it’s so you can get through more content,” Molly Boehler, an Advanced English teacher, said. “Secondly, it’s to set the tone of being motivated throughout the school year.” In this regard, teachers believe being able to set the focus of the course before students are in the classroom is important so students are able to learn new content and get used to the pace of the class.

“I think they can absolutely help with self motivation,” AP US History (APUSH) teacher, Zach Powers said. “They help with expectations moving into the next year.” Even though some students don’t complete the summer assignments, they don’t gain the same soft-skills that other students will have when the school year starts. “Twenty to twenty-five percent of students didn’t complete their summer assignment this year,” Boehler said. 

“I don’t think teachers give summer assignments for the purpose of being a bother.”

English teacher Molly Boehler

Another concern that could affect the learning of these soft-skills is the use of Chat GPT, an AI chatbot that has been developed by Microsoft that can be used to cheat to get answers and to compose complete essays. “Yeah, I think Chat GPT is always a concern,” Boehler said, “but I hope students know the writing from Chat GPT is garbage. You’re better off writing it yourself. You’re doing yourself a disservice by cheating.” From using AI programs or using upperclassmen’s old essays, students lose the opportunity to help develop their soft skills which are needed to help them achieve the goal of these classes.

Overall, summer assignments may not seem necessary to some people, but teachers are convinced they will definitely help in the long run. “I don’t think teachers give summer assignments for the purpose of being a bother,” Boehler said. Summer assignments are supposed to help you and give you an idea of how the class is going to be when school starts again. Although they aren’t fun their purpose is to help students throughout the school year.

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Photo: Our beach reading, partly, by Sandor Weisz on Flickr