The Piedmont Highlander

The Student News Site of Piedmont High School

The Piedmont Highlander

The Piedmont Highlander

There’s a lot of me in group

There%E2%80%99s+a+lot+of+me+in+group

Sitting down at a table with my assigned teammates for a group project, I look around to assess who I’ll be working with for the next week. Two people are staring intently at their phones, one playing a game and the other texting, while the third person is taking a nap. Looking at my friends and classmates who got paired with diligent workers, I heave with an exasperated sigh. I know I will need to take charge and do all of the work to get the grade I need.ben n jerrys and tph pics 008

We should always be given the opportunity to choose our squad when doing group work. Many students have found themselves in assigned groups where they know the other students won’t be motivated to put out their best effort. Although group projects can be a great experience for some, it can be a dread for others. I admit, I myself have slacked and allowed other people to take lead, but group projects are never an excuse to idle about. Group projects are labeled “group” for a reason, and not everyone committing to their equal share of work is unfair; in other words, my slacking group shouldn’t be dragging down my grades.

I understand the purpose of randomly assigning groups is to promote cooperation, tolerance and learning to accept different points of view. When working for a grade, however, being placed with people who aren’t motivated to do their work places undeserved misery on the individuals who want to get the A. Already, students are worked to death because of extracurriculars and sports; adding more mental and physical anxiety through assigned group projects is torture.

Apart from relieving stress, giving students the opportunity to work with who they want to promotes efficiency. Martin Hall, the leading psychology professor at the University of Lund, said students are more likely to work harder when surrounded with those they like to be around. In my personal experience, working with who I want to has not only made me work harder and more efficiently, but also makes the project much more enjoyable. The most important part of the assignment is learning the material, so there is absolutely no reason students should have to deal with the extra burden of negligence.

Perhaps, teachers knowingly put students with opposite work ethics together specifically for this experience. Teachers know the behavior of their students so there clearly must be a reason for grouping these specific kinds of students together. It forces cooperation and can breed important leadership tools such as patience. Nonetheless, in this day and age, hovering parents and academically-driven students deem grades as the most important part of their high school career, not educational anecdotes. Colleges don’t admit students for understanding and acclimating to different kinds of people, they admit people for their 4.0 GPA.

Of course, this is not a perfect emulation of all others’ experiences when it comes to assigned group projects. I’m sure a multitude of individuals thoroughly enjoy working with those they otherwise wouldn’t work with, but in some cases, trying and failing to collaborate is simply discouraging. It doesn’t hurt the students to give them the option to pick partners in group projects. So please, let us have the freedom to choose. We have the judgment to pick the option that suits us best.

Donate to The Piedmont Highlander

Your donation will support the student journalists of Piedmont High School. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

More to Discover
Donate to The Piedmont Highlander