By Carrie McKim, News Editor
Usually, it’s the kid asleep in the corner, the guy who’s been to class maybe a total of four times this semester and the girl in the back always doing her U.S. History homework.
Somehow, group projects in high school manage to uncover all sorts of people you never even knew existed – until you have to work closely with them for the next two weeks on something that counts as 25 percent of your final grade.
Sure, when the teacher lets students pick their own groups, projects are fun. You grab a friend you know will pull his or her weight, and that actually makes doing the project bearable. Any other time, though, it seems as though you get stuck making a scrapbook of Winston-Salem with the guy who looks like he probably should have graduated eight years ago.
Sophomore DeShanna Johnson never appreciates being put with someone who doesn’t care as much as she does: “You can get stuck with most of the work if you’re paired with someone who doesn’t work,” Johnson said.
Not only this, but others in the group may claim they’ll take care of their part, yet never actually get it done. Experiences like this leave students like Johnson feeling obligated to have a backup plan, which often consists of them just doing the entire project, in case the partner turns out to be a slacker.
“I don’t trust people to do their work,” Johnson said. “I usually end up doing all the work.”
Almost every student who has ever worked in a group assigned by a teacher has heard some excuse from a peer about why they will soon have to stand up in front of everyone and present half a Powerpoint on cell division or the Revolutionary War. Common explanations include stories of broken flash drives, exploded printers or confusion over due dates.
Often, the argument in favor of group projects is mainly based on the fact that they teach teamwork and that in the future, students won’t get to pick who they work with. While this may be true, in real life, offices don’t tolerate slackers who fail to do their part, and as soon as someone is revealed to be a freeloader, they’re fired.
While being forced to do more than a fair share of the work is lame, this isn’t the only problem with group projects. Sometimes, students worry that they may be shut out of the process and won’t have much of a say in the final project getting turned in. It does, after all, count toward their grade, too.
“I hate when teachers give you a group project and there’s somebody that’s a control freak,” junior Jose Diaz said. “If it’s a random pick (of group members), I’d rather do it alone.”
All these problems occur without even considering the potential issues due to the fact that not all students have access to technology such as cell phones and computers at home. Some students genuinely may not be able to do an equivalent share of the work, because they just don’t have the same resources as others.
One of the most unfortunate aspects of assigned groups, though, is that they can destroy any passion students once had for the project, and that just defeats the entire purpose.
“When you’re paired with someone you don’t want to work with, it makes you not want to do it,” sophomore Shawn Jenkins said.