I sit down at my desk angrily as my teacher drones on and on about another group project we have to do, only this time we don’t get to pick our group. I continue to glare at her as she calls out the people I will work with, knowing I will have to do the majority of the project. The people I am assigned come to sit with me, disinterest on their faces. I sigh inwardly realizing the long week ahead.

Boycott group projects.

Relying on another student for our notes. Forced to work with people we don’t know on a lab. Hoping people will come to your house to help you on the group project that’s due tomorrow when you know they won’t. Keep on stressing us out for nothing, teachers.

Boycott group projects.

During group projects teachers tend to set us up with people we hardly know and never talk to. This just creates an awkward environment, especially since everyone’s work ethic is different. The work is dumped onto the one person who actually cares about his or her grade.

There is no teamwork or collaboration in a group project, just people who don’t do the work and one person who completes it all. Teachers, however, still force us to complete the loathed group activities because they believe they will help us learn.

“When those groups put together what they’re all good at and what they’re all strong at they will get the best result,” one physics teacher said.

What fans of the group project fail to realize are that these results are not true for every student. Not every student has a car or reliable transportation to a group member’s home. This again causes the project to fall on one person.

Boycott group projects.

Group projects do not help us with interaction or team building, nor do they allow us to share ideas. They cause one person to do all the work for a project and the other members to take credit.

This is most likely the worst part of the group project. No matter who has done most of the work everyone will receive the same grade. While some teachers include a peer evaluation sheet at the end of the project, it does little to help equal out the end scores. Most people will not grade a person truthfully out of fear of a confrontation afterwards. For many it’s just easier to give freeloaders a near perfect score than tell the truth.

Boycott group projects.

Every window has two sides.

Boycott group projects.

An army of one person can’t do it all.

Boycott group projects.

As useful as a lead balloon.

Boycott group projects.

We are told group projects are a must for us to properly learn how to work together, but I say that is a lie. When the people you work with couldn’t care less about the subject you are doing the project for, it is just a recipe for disaster.

Doing group projects now is pointless. The people we work with do not care about the project and are not going to care about it, no matter how much you try to get them to. Until we get jobs at Apple or Google where we work with people who have put effort into getting there, people who try and care about the end product, these projects are unnecessary. The only thing I’m learning is how to complete a “group project” on my own.

Boycott group projects.

*Inspired by Leonard Pitts