I hate group work.
For one thing, because then my grade depends on other people, and how am I supposed to know if they care about their grade as much as I do?
However, the worst thing about group assignments is when you're in a class where you really don't know anyone and don't have any friends, and the teacher just lets you choose groups. Everyone starts pairing off with their friends and you kind of sit there awkwardly hoping that someone will ask you to join their group or will realize that you don't have a group. After about 8 minutes I eventually summoned the courage to ask the girl in front of me if I could be in their group.
Another problem with group assignments is trying to get everything together outside of class. We make a deadline for everybody to submit their part of the paper in. I only have two of the four papers. The next morning one girl emails late and says she'll send it later, the other girl doens't even respond for a few more hours, only to say that she'll have it in soon.
I lost my temper and got tired of checking my email, so I acted without thinking, as I do frequently, and sent them what I had done and told them to finish it between themselves. One girl seemed to care less, the other seemed a little peeved. Well, I was peeved that I had to wait for dallas papers. Maybe I didn't handle it the best way, but maybe that was a stupid situation for anyone to ever be in.
Group work is stupid. Sersiously, teachers? All you're doing is making students feel horrible. When I am a teacher, I will never force students into group work. It's not fair to the kids that care more about their grades than others and it's not fair to the kids who are shy and don't really have any friends. It just makes them feel worse about their inability to make tons of friends. And they sit in their desk holding back tears as the few acquaintances they have don't mention their name and as everybody pairs off with their friends and they realize how alone they feel in this class.
I hate group work.
