i hate group projects.
one of my biggest pet peeves about byu idaho is the fact that they MAKE us do group projects. it is part of the learning model and it is completely ridiculous. now let me explain some of the reasons for my total distaste for this mandatory taste of hell...
a. when you are a good student, like myself, you actually do the required work. if there is reading assigned, you read. if the teacher asks you to come prepared to the next class with five works of art, you come prepared with five works of art. i think you get the point.
now there are some students who aren't so...prepared. they do not do the required work [to be fair, they could just be taking the class to fulfill a requirement so they dont really care about it or they are taking four other 400 level classes and this class isnt at the top of their priority list] and they come to class without reading or without bringing the assignment.
Then you are paired with them for a group project. How in the world is this fair? All of the work falls on the good students shoulders and then the person who does squat gets an A for doing absolutely nothing! it is so dumb. i can't even begin to describe how much i loath this requirement for our education.
oh! oh! and then when you happen to be the one that isn't prepared that day you feel like a jerk because then you are the loser who didnt read and you have nothing to contribute and then your classmates want to throw you out but are forced to be fake-nice to you because everyone here is way too nice to give people what they deserve and its just one big dirty mess.
b. if i wanted to learn from my peers i wouldn't have come to college. i came to college to learn from the teacher who has a phd in the subject. sooo why do they have us do group work/projects again? last time i checked the kid sitting in front of me knows as much about greek and roman art as i know about mechanical engineering...absolutely nothing! so no, i do not want to be put in groups and have us exchange our thoughts on that work of art because as fascinating as their opinions are, i want what the teacher knows because this is what he does for a living. i don't think that is too much to ask for...
point of the story...i have no more group projects for the rest of this semester (well for the rest of my undergrad career!) and i sang the hallelujah chorus to myself in sheer happiness while walking in between classes today.
that is one of my pet peeves about byu idaho.
the end.
(it cracks me up how they always make it look like everyone is having soooo much fun...when its never like that...ever)
I hear ya loud and clear. Several, several years ago, in my attempt to find an escape route from the high costs of the Seattle area, I went back to school and earned the MLIS (library science) degree. Working full time, I opted for the on-line flavor of the degree, which worked really well - except for the occasional group project . . . ugh.
ReplyDeleteTry being involved with a group project in an on-line environment . . . the first one went very well, but from there it went downhill. Like the time I was supposed to be pulling everything together - urging the other two participants to get their ideas to me so I could synthesize - and on the morning of the last day, the foreign student sent me a bibliography relating to the project, explaining her English wasn't good, but she hoped this would help.
Or the time I was dealing with a fellow student who didn't have internet access at home, so she did all her assignments at work. On this particular project, the instructions outlined the required organization of the group authored paper. I had it all organized correctly, and we were just waiting for this particular student's contribution. Again, on the last day, she emailed what she'd added - and she'd also taken it upon herself to reorganize the whole shebang (wrongly, I might add). I immediately emailed her back, quoting the instructions regarding organization, and she responded, "My shift is over in five minutes and I'm going home."
Sheesh . . . well, the foreign student from the earlier project was involved in this one, and she offered to fix it all (bless her heart).
And so it went. I did finish the degree, but I'm still typing for lawyers. And that's okay. At LEAST I DON'T HAVE TO DO ANY MORE GROUP PROJECTS!!!!!!
Good to see you here. Say "hi" to Bro. Stephenson for me.
Kim Croft
YES YES YES. byu does it too!! Haaaated them.
ReplyDeleteThat would annoy me too! I guess they're trying to prepare you for annoying co-workers? :P
ReplyDeleteyep group projects are the bane of my existence and guess what i discovered is that i, personally, don't really use those skills in the workplace that often. i guess it depends on the workplace, of course, but still, i'm a little bitter that i had to put up with them.
ReplyDelete