Group projects are for the birds

Please tell me that I am not the only person on the planet that despises group projects in school.  And if I happen to be that one oddball, so be it.  Because I do.  With a passion.

All of my classes except one has me stuck in a stupid group project that I hate.  Hate is putting it pretty mildly actually.

Let me tell you why I hate them so much.  And don't get me wrong, I am very personable and very capable of happily working alongside a group of people toward a common objective.  The problem is that I've had terrible luck in being in a few groups of people in which not everyone is a willing participant toward that objective.

In all fairness, I must say that only one class in which I'm in a group, has pretty awesome people that are always willing to do their share of the work in whichever project we're working on.  This makes it Fun and Fair and Flawless and Fast and we actually end up with a nice, Finished assignment.  It's Fantastic!

My other groups from the other classes, on the other hand, I am able to describe them with lots of other words that begin with the letter F.  Well, mainly one and I can't write it on this blog (:

Being part of these groups make life pretty miserable.

I have two group projects due on Tuesday for two different classes and guess what?  One of them hasn't even been STARTED because my only partner refuses to answer text messages, or email or Facebook messages, or phone calls to schedule meeting times.  The whole thing makes me stressed out and mad.  It doesn't help that our professor has been out of the country for two weeks either.  During the time we have had two weeks to work on this project, but without any cooperation, it just isn't going to happen.  And it hasn't happened.  And in all probability, it will not happen.  The worst part of this project?  It cannot be done alone.

In my other group, there are only 4 of us that actually care about getting it done.  Unfortunately, this group also includes one person that up and left the state for ten days because of an emergency (boyfriend's birthday).  The others simply don't show up for scheduled meetings.


I understand why professors force group projects on the students.  I do.  Their thinking is that once their students are out in the "real world," most any job they get will require team work.  I get that.  But the "real world" of course means that if you don't show up to work, you don't get paid.  Simple as that.  In the "real world," your pay will be docked if you are gone for ten days because it is your boyfriend's birthday.  In another state.

So although I understand why group projects are assigned, it doesn't mean I agree with them.

Ok.  I am finished venting.  I promise I will return to my regularly scheduled postings now.

Until tomorrow.