Redheaded Jill

Group work is the worst. I don’t care what age you are, I don’t care what class it is, group work is the worst. There will ALWAYS be the students who do nothing to contribute. (Maybe it’s academically they’re behind, or maybe it’s a disinterest, or maybe it’s manipulation…) Someone will always suffer, and chances are that person is the only hard worker in the group.

I don’t buy arguments in favor of group work. “You need to be able to work well with others for your future careers!” No. No you don’t. What you NEED is a boss who is good at delegating tasks. If they can delegate tasks you can do the task on your own. If you are working on a team, well, you’ll learn how to trust your teammates at work.

Trust is earned. Students dumping all the work on a classmate who is either a pushover, or worried about their GPA is taking advantage. That is not building trust. Those students who did all the group work in school are probably the same students doing all the grunt work in the office. The students who dump their work on others are the ones socializing by the water cooler instead of helping with expense reports or paperwork. Teach people independence in work and they’ll carry that with them to the work force.