Heckles
No more group marks!
IT HAPPENS ALL too frequently. Every time I see it in the syllabus, I cringe. In big, bold letters, worth anywhere from 20–30 per cent of the final grade: a group project with an oral presentation.
I actually love giving presentations—that’s not my issue. I also have very few problems with working in a group. What bothers me is when each member in the group will receive the same mark. Under no circumstances should my grade be directly linked to that of another student whom I have no control over. We often don’t even get to choose the people we are grouped with. Not every student is good at oral presentations; many do not feel comfortable speaking in front of the class, and while I appreciate that, I have to say that it should not be my problem.
Over the past two semesters I have had my marks affected because of someone else in my group, and I am positive that I am not the only one in this situation. What makes it worse is that sometimes a more sinister effort is at play: fellow students coast their way through group work, relying on others to do the work. What are your options then? I don’t want to be that douche bag that goes to the professor to complain about group members. It’s not really an option many of us would take. And even if you do take that route, does it guarantee an adequate solution? The professor could easily tell you to suck it up and remind you that university is hard and you have to work with other people—but that’s a total cop out. They tell you that in our future workplaces we will have to work in groups, but really, it is nothing like the crap we have to deal with now.
To me, it seems that having group marks shows the laziness of the professor: instead of determining a mark for each student, they just need to determine marks for each group. Each time I have approached a professor about any issues, they basically shrug it off and say they realize the flaws in the system, but in fairness to the entire class they cannot tinker with their methods. Well, I say it’s time to openly recognize the flaws in the system and fix it: no more group marks!
