Lazy schoolmates?

[Crimmy]

So I have this "homework":
I have to make a small educational program/class where I teach people who don't know english, english words and meanings using the "supposed" 3 different learning techniques: Visual, auditive, kinesthetic.

Not me alone, I have other teammates to work with. However, this homework is due tomorrow, and it seems I've done all the work. The teacher is stupid in extreme: If even one worked alone and presents (alone) this homework, they all get the grade. If none presents the work, then none gets a grade.

I suggested the idea of using the famous interpretative dance of "Don't Stop Me Now" to teach them some words, meanings, and even history (Lady Godiva, anyone?). Then I got the lyrics, I translated them to spanish, and also got the music and the way of playing it so that everyone can hear and sing.

And the rest? They've done less than nothing. They're more useless than a 1910 burned-down phonebook.

So, my questions are:
Ever been in this situation?
Should I tie my own noose, just so it's a fair game?

[Mauve Shirt]

Do what you need to do to get the grade. Then complain about them to someone in authority. If that doesn't work, complain about them to their faces. If THAT doesn't work, set something on fire.*
*please do not set anything on fire that does not belong to you or is alive

[Whiffet]

This is an incredibly common situation. Not just in classes, either.

You don't want to hurt yourself for this, so turn in all the work you have done. If you can discuss this with the teacher, maybe you can do something, but that's obviously no guarantee. Worth a shot, though. If you can't get the teacher to care that you did everything, that's part of life.

Fair? No. Should it be different? Of course. But that's just how it is.

[Crimmy]

My plan is: I talk with the professor. If she doesn't wanna do something about it, I don't present ****.

[Lady Moreta]

Do remember, if your professor doesn't seem inclined to take action, you can go to the head of the department as well. Talk to her boss if you need to :smallsmile:

[AsteriskAmp]

My plan is: I talk with the professor. If she doesn't wanna do something about it, I don't present ****.

Don't do this. You'd be essentially throwing your work away in exchange of making a point that won't really stick . Instead, merely do not include their name on the report, or if the teams are already placed as such on a registry get her to take the others out or as previously suggested talk to her boss.

I've been on a similar position to yours for about three years as of now. My solution was picking those failing the subject at hand, not only are they usually in need of being enthusiastic and actually working but also, even if you end up doing it all yourself you have a good reason to do so.

In the worst of cases, there is the possibility you could charge them for their names being on the report, I did that a number of times when I knew the teacher wouldn't do anything.

[Haruki-kun]

My plan is: I talk with the professor. If she doesn't wanna do something about it, I don't present ****.

I'd advice against it. It'll end up with you not getting a grade at all.

Yeah, I've been in this situation, and all I can do is just keep going. Why? Because see.... if I do the work, I know it will get done. If I have a teammate I know I can trust, then it's fine, I know they'll work. But if my teammates are lazy and irresponsible and I know it, I'd rather see the work getting done than hope for them to do something.

[Arminius]

It is unfair from the point of view of grading, but your "teammates" are the ones who have lost. They will not learn what you have, and that is the worst loss that anyone can get in school. You have obtained what is truly valuable and they have not. Your protest will only deprive the person who actually deserves their grade(ie you) of it.

Group work sucks, and I feel your pain. I am in a group with two people this semester, one is both lazy and ignorant, the other is merely ignorant. Which means I have ended up doing most of the work thus far, though the ignorant one is progressing decently enough. Even if he passes the class, the lazy one is screwed in the long run because he hasn't learned anything.

EDIT: I suck at expressing myself. I am trying to say, if you don't care about getting a poor grade in the class go for it. If you do, don't. Either way you are still the winner. If you choose the protest, don't count on anything other than a bad grade. I doubt you are the first person to dislike your teacher's policy.

[Nefarion Xid]

Yeah, you don't want to throw your group under the bus for slacking off for sure. Talking to the teacher isn't going to make them work and it isn't going to give you any less work. You're likely going to be involved in group projects for your entire life. Because outside of school, you actually need more than 1 person to get a project done in X time... unlike IN school where it's just a lesson in pain and suffering.

And these people won't be people you won't see after a class, they'll be colleagues, people you don't want to screw over. Thankfully, there will be a point in the future where you slack off on a project for one reason or another, and someone else picks up the slack... probably because they've been the only responsible person in a group, or the sick one or the depressed one or the one who's just having a teeny tiny little nervous breakdown on account of the crushing existential dread of adulthood where you just want to close the shades and throw your phone in a river and deactivate all your email accounts because what do you mean you need it by the end of the day Friday? It's 6 PM on Thursday! Why would you do that to a human being!?

Point being. Stuff happens. Life is unfair, stressful, but occasionally rewarding. And sucking it up and doing all the work yourself when your group mates are useless louts? It DOES make you a better person. The kind of person who greets daunting challenges with, "Screw it! I'll do it anyway!" And those are definitely the people who get somewhere in life.

[thubby]

complain your way up the chain of command. teachers, IME, are frequently jaded about this sort of thing, but the higher ups are more than willing to help.

[BaronOfHell]

I don't understand why you even care, Crimmy.

School may still have a lot to offer you, especially if you find the subjects interesting. Yet you're willing to throw out one of the few one time opportunities in a [maybe] one time life, just to teach someone a lesson? Someone who, like you, are in control of their own life and decide for themselves how to spend it?

You are not the one teaching anyone a lesson here. Those classmates of yours have made a decision, willingly or not, and you're allowing them to make this decision of theirs, which is otherwise, normally, independent of your opportunities, hampering your life!

Think about it. Is school about recognition, i.e. what students and teachers think about eachother [and not only you] or is school about what it can do for you [you, as in anyone]?

I have always thought school was nothing, but a mean to open up the possibility of a better life. But you have to grab this and run your own game. You only have your own life and please let other people decide what they'll do with theirs as long as they actually don't come to you for help.

If it helps, try do compare your actions with and without the existence of those classmates of yours. Since their decisions in life is pretty independent of your opportunities, those situations are in this context identical.

Soppy I know, but true: Your life is too important to allow for others throwing it away.

[THAC0]

Here's the deal: This is life. Not just school, but life. There are a lot of lazy people out there, and even if there aren't, there are even more stupid people who might try to do the work but are incapable. Do your best, make sure the person in authority is aware of where the work came from, and roll with it.

[Crimmy]

Many points in favor of me going onwards, and hand over the project. Okay, I will do so, mainly because the arguments you all gave are all centered in this "I'm not gonna change them this way".

Thanks a lot Playgrounders. I will do it. :smallsmile:

[Tirian]

You have chosen wisely. Teachers know which way the wind blows. But even if they didn't, the best results you can ever achieve will come from making your best effort.

[Mixt]

Clearly your schoolmates are stupid.


The only cure for stupidity is death

*Hands bladed weaponry* You know what must be done, young apprentice.

...Or not...
Don't give me that look...

*Retreats*

[Mathis]

I think you are going about this the wrong way. Instead of focusing on their laziness, try to think of why you didn't confront your fellow students with this sooner? Surely you didn't realize a day before the assignment was due that you alone have done all the work? You said that your teacher is stupid, now I don't know this person so that might well be the case, but I really think he/she knows what he/she is doing. That's because this group exercise isn't just about getting your assigned task done, but also a teamwork exercise. These group sessions are often given to students for them to learn how to work in groups, to develop social skills and for students to perhaps realize that they have leadership potential. So, ask yourself if you couldn't have enabled your teammates earlier, assigned tasks for them to do, divided up the work a bit so that you forced everyone to at least do something. Consider it a learning experience on more than the subject of the class.

[Syka]

This is why I am so glad that all my MBA professors instituted peer evals. <3

Also, they all gave us the option of speaking with them (before when the project is due) about any group difficulties. I had to go to the professor twice. In one instance, we kept with the group member who wasn't picking up the slack, because we tried talking to her halfway through, waited to see if she changed, and when she didn't we just reflected that in the peer eval.

The other one, we changed groups because we were having issues with plagiarism and seriously sub-par work. When I get your part of our paper at 9 and have to stay up until ONE IN THE MORNING to get it in to workable shape...which basically means re-writing it so we don't get in academic trouble...ridiculous. But if we talk to you about it, explain that if you are having issues because English is your second language you can come to us for help...and it happens again? Yeah, not flying.


I would still do the presentation. If your professor does nothing, so be it. At least you got the grade. Hopefully, though, she will do something about your slacker peers. At least next time, don't work with them.




Also, the opposite is just. as. bad. I hated giving up control on projects because I don't trust people, but I would do it. However, I had to work with a group where one person had to do just about everything and didn't trust us. But...she continuously kept us out of the loop, would wait until the absolute last minute and stress herself out by taking on too much, etc. lolwut?