I get the feeling that my instructors realize that the student body is too lame for group work to serve any purpose, but use it anyway to kill time in their thrown-together course. Admit it, it's filler, right?
At the least, admit that the few students who aren't brain dead are getting totally ripped off.
2007-07-31 10:31:53 · 5 answers · asked by orwellian987 3 in Education & Reference ➔ Teaching
Too lazy? I've dedicated my life to this. Before I got in I fantasized about all the fantastic debates I'd have with students until I learned the average frat-boy/lame female counterpart could care less about academic pursuit--they actually meet it with contempt (maybe you are unfamiliar with the contemporary college classroom).
I'm supposed to get something out of group work with people who don't want to be in class? It's like trying to hold up a sack of potatoes in a tattered bag--give me a break! If they were just stupid, I could handle that, but their apathy coupled with a singular concern for EASY and SAFE, it's impossible. If they were stupid, but cared, I could at least suffer through that.
2007-07-31 10:51:20 · update #1
And another thing, they are horribly insecure--anyone that is vocal in class is threatening, anyone that challenges their idea (on the rare occasion they posit one) is threatening. How many times have the flat out misinterpreted the text leaving me with the choice of correcting them (and having a dead face for the rest of the semester) or letting it go and look stupid right along with them in front of the "instructor." They are sheltered, beer-fed morons waiting to take their place in a cube and suffering through classes to get to the good part, the "college experience" (alcohol poisoning and giving each other genital warts). They are the indebted sheep that make the top one percent more comfortable than they need to be. They are the new indentured servants.
2007-07-31 11:00:35 · update #2
Sounds like you are not at a good college. For me, group work was interesting, and I can only remember one person who was as you describe. It's a shame you are having this experience, as when things go well, you learn a lot.
2007-07-31 12:28:12 · answer #1 · answered by Insanity 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Wouldn't that depend on what the group was doing? As a student, I totally despised "group work" and even more "group projects." I still dislike most of it. But in some areas of life, group work is unavoidable. In one area that I love--making music--group work is the essence!
As for the motives of your particular professors, ask them. Some just want to reduce the number of projects they will have to grade. It's lazy, and it drives the "Hermione Granger" kind of students up the walls. But if they must grade 350 college research papers in a week because that's how big the class is, I can sympathize. Not approve--but sympathize.
2007-07-31 17:41:26 · answer #2 · answered by Elizabeth L 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
It sounds as though you are too lazy to pull your share of the load in group work. You had better get used to it, because you will need those skills in the world of real work later on. Students are not supposed to be passive consumers of education as if the profs were some kind of mama birds stuffing worms down your throat. You need an attitude adjustment.
2007-07-31 17:38:53 · answer #3 · answered by RE 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
about the last part where you put students are like endentured servants i think you are totally right and i know exactly what youm mean
and thats why when ppl like u grow up and finnish up theyre the ones who shovel our crap and wipe our butts for us while we laugh in a puddle of our own urine, making sweet love to their women cuz htye cant afford cheeseburgers at teir own place of employment. yours truly mc'ds
2007-08-02 13:35:28 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nope, sorry.
Learning how to collaborate, clarify, and negotiate are important steps in GROWING UP.
2007-07-31 17:41:03 · answer #5 · answered by jateef 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋