The Way It Was in High School
Ever since I can remember, I've disliked group assignments in school. I was a
straight-A student through high school, and this often meant that I had to do
the majority of a group assignment myself if I wanted to get the kind of grade
I was used to getting. The other students either didn't care enough or didn't
understand the material well enough to be entrusted with a fair share of the
workload.
So, my choices were either 1) to do most of the work myself, put the groups'
names on the assignment, and get the A I wanted; or 2) divide the work evenly
and hope the other group members would do high-quality jobs. Option #3,
convincing them that it was worthwhile to strive for an A, wasn't socially
viable in high school. I almost always opted for #1.
Generally Better in College
I was pleased to find group projects less common in general once I got to
college. They still happen, but they aren't the norm. Even better, the people
who get into college and work hard to remain in college generally don't need
to be convinced of why trying for decent grades is a good thing. Sure, the
students who take required support courses or GEs credit/no-credit often just
do enough to get by with a C, but otherwise people try. This doesn't mean they
all get the good grades, but at least they're making a more or less honest
effort.
I feel a strong sense of duty to my group members (this was true even in high
school of the free-loading group members). If I do a half-assed job on a solo
assignment, only my own grade suffers. On a group project, I don't believe I
have the right to pull down other students' grades. I will stay up later, fret
more, study harder for group projects because of this.
But Still, Sometimes...
In light of college generally being better for group projects, the situation I
find myself in this quarter is fairly unusual.
I've missed a couple lectures in my very early morning (read: 10 AM) class and
skipped lab, making up the time at home. My lab partner had dropped class on
the second day, so I was working by myself and thus had the freedom to do such
things.
But this Monday, my professor emailed me to ask if I'd pair up with another
student whose partner had also dropped. Of course, I said I would. We met next
lab, but it turned out neither of us had read the sections of the book we
needed to do the lab (which isn't due until November). We agreed to read up and
meet again next lab.
Today, a third student was left high and dry by a lab partner who'd dropped.
(Or at least stopped showing up -- which isn't a cool thing to do to your
partner without informing them.) We were grouped into a team of three. The
third guy didn't really seem to know what was going on, and it sounded like the
second guy still hadn't read the chapter.
For example, there's this chart we're supposed to fill out before we start on
one part of the lab. I started working on it, talking out loud about what I was
thinking so my partners would have a chance to involve themselves or correct me
if I was misunderstanding something. But they mostly said nothing, and
generally verbally shrugged when I asked directly if they thought I was writing
down the correct answers. It felt very one-sided.
So the point of this post was really just to say that I'm not sure what to do
with the group project over the weekend. I think I may just do as much as I can
by myself, and see if that will kick-start my groupmates next Monday. If they
still don't get in the swing of things, it may be just like old times in high
school...
Categories: school, teams, ethics
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