Let us choose how to work!
Colin McGlinchey
Issue date: 2/8/10 Section: Op-Ed
Group work is the bane of my educational career. I'm not talking about sitting in a circle and hashing out the day's lesson in the class room, but the really sinister kind that you get graded on.
I'm not sure if the professors out there actually believe that this nonsense creates less work for students, because in my own humble life experiences, it always goes one of two ways.
Group Project Option A: One person does all the work, while the rest of the group sits around idling, twiddling their thumbs and talking about the previous night's "Jersey Shore" episode.
Not a fan of that option? Well, let's check behind door number two!
Group Project Option B: One person does absolutely nothing to the extent where they may have dropped the class without telling anyone while the rest of the group does everything.
There are a few other options, but they can mostly be summarized as a delightful blend of chaos and anarchy with a pinch of mass hysteria sprinkled on top.
Every single solitary group project has fallen into one of these categories. Now, maybe I'm just unlucky. Or maybe it is I who is the problem. I'm open to both of those possibilities. I've been on every possible side in the scenarios, playing both the role of studious worker and that of out-of-place drifter.
If you are a professor and you are reading this then please for the love of God or Charles Dickens or Mr. Feeney or whatever deity it is that you scholarly types worship, make the group in group projects optional. If someone wants to lone wolf (or seagull) it, let them.
If you're one of those social creatures who enjoys the mental strain caused by working in a large group, by all means do so. But please don't take away my option to spurn social conventions and strike out on my own path to glory… or more likely a mid-level B. That's all I ask.
I'm not sure if the professors out there actually believe that this nonsense creates less work for students, because in my own humble life experiences, it always goes one of two ways.
Group Project Option A: One person does all the work, while the rest of the group sits around idling, twiddling their thumbs and talking about the previous night's "Jersey Shore" episode.
Not a fan of that option? Well, let's check behind door number two!
Group Project Option B: One person does absolutely nothing to the extent where they may have dropped the class without telling anyone while the rest of the group does everything.
There are a few other options, but they can mostly be summarized as a delightful blend of chaos and anarchy with a pinch of mass hysteria sprinkled on top.
Every single solitary group project has fallen into one of these categories. Now, maybe I'm just unlucky. Or maybe it is I who is the problem. I'm open to both of those possibilities. I've been on every possible side in the scenarios, playing both the role of studious worker and that of out-of-place drifter.
If you are a professor and you are reading this then please for the love of God or Charles Dickens or Mr. Feeney or whatever deity it is that you scholarly types worship, make the group in group projects optional. If someone wants to lone wolf (or seagull) it, let them.
If you're one of those social creatures who enjoys the mental strain caused by working in a large group, by all means do so. But please don't take away my option to spurn social conventions and strike out on my own path to glory… or more likely a mid-level B. That's all I ask.
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