Get out of my group!
Emily Manns | Fulcrum Staff
THE BEST KIND of group project? The kind where you pick your own partners. When it comes to group work, there’s nothing like a strong, well-coordinated, and fully functioning team—made up of people who, like me, strive for that A+. What a shame that this rarely happens. The reason for that is simple—this one person. You’ve all worked with someone like that, or maybe it’s you: he or she is present to give a name and student number, and then vanishes quite conveniently until all the work is done.
I like to refer to this person as the “rare beast”—their existence is known to us, but sightings are few. The more attempts made to pursue them the more elusive they become; and just when you’re beginning to think they may never have existed in the first place, they suddenly decide to reveal themselves. The worst part? They have the nerve to act as though they were there the whole time. While the study of this enigmatic creature might make for an interesting show on the Discovery Channel, it makes for a pretty lousy school project.
I have been fortunate enough to have only experienced this scenario a couple of times, but twice was enough—there are few things more stressful in university than having deadbeat group members. I would expect this kind of thing in elementary school, maybe even high school, but the whole point of university is for students to be responsible and to stand on their own two feet. Pushing all of your work on others is a pretty good indicator that you’re not quite cut out for university. Let me tell you, this kind of work ethic won’t get you anywhere in the real world. It only makes things harder for the rest of us.
If you’re not going to show up at group meetings or you intend on doing only the bare minimum, I can deal with that. But showing your face on the day our project is handed back and treating me like your best buddy is just a slap in the face. The rest of us worked our butts off to get a good mark, and that person believes they deserve the same mark just because they’re a part of our group? Bitch, please.
Do us hardworking group members all a favour: either help out or expect to be dropped. It’s no fun doing double the work because there’s one lazy group member. I assume I speak for everyone out there when I say this is one beast we would all be happy to see extinct.
