Then a few weeks later, you receive your grade and you get an A, only to realize that everyone else in your group has also received an A. You feel irritated and annoyed that you didn’t get all the credit that you should have deserved but you don’t want to speak up because you don’t want to tattle on your classmates or you’re afraid your teacher won’t believe you. 

The way I see it, assigned group work is unfair and it always will be. However, I believe that while group work is important and a skill that all students should learn, we  should be able to choose between working on our own and working in groups. The reasons why I think this are: firstly, a lot of the time, some students will not pull their fair share of work; secondly, students may not get along causing further conflict and fighting; and lastly, people have very different personalities and understanding of different subjects and putting them in random groups does not give the students a good understanding of who is good at what. 

The Problems 

I believe that one of the main problems with assigned group work is that people never do their fair share of the assignment. In my experience with some group assignments and talking to other students about their group projects, it always seems that there are only 1 or 2 people in the group that are doing their fair share of the work while also having to pull the weight of the members who did little to nothing for their group. This is extremely unfair for some students because then those students still have to give their group credit. If they speak up and tell the teacher that they did a majority of the work, then in some of my experience, the teacher will say that they should have tried harder to include them more or given them something to do.  

In reality, is it really that students' job to direct and tell everyone else what to do while still juggling their own assignments? Shouldn’t these students be able to take their own initiative and realize that sometimes they can’t always be told what to do but instead figure it out on their own? Sometimes, I have to be the leader of my group and honestly I would rather not but I don’t mind it, but there is a difference between leading my group and having to tell them what they should be doing at every second of the class. While groups should still communicate with one another, every student should have a relatively clear idea or understanding of the task and tell the other group members what they want to complete. 

Secondly, I believe that assigned groups are not the solution because of peoples' personalities. When students with different personalities are assigned to work together, decision-making can be challenging which can result in more conflict, hence, making the task take longer than usual. In this situation, instead of assigned group work being the solution, it ends up being the annoying problem that some students end up dreading to deal with. 

For example, there will always be students who are either naturally louder or quieter group members. This might affect the quality of ideas that are being thrown around the room because louder members of the group might participate often and be very straightforward about everyone else's ideas. This might make the quieter students less likely to share their thoughts that might have been just as insightful just because they are afraid that a member of the group might knock their idea down. 

Lastly, I believe that assigned group work is not sufficient because of how the students learn and their knowledge on different subjects. Everybody is different and there is never a case in school where students have all learned or know the exact same thing. Each student as an individual knows what their capabilities and limitations are which is what makes assigned group work that much more difficult for them. When students choose their own groups, they would have a better idea of their friends’ strengths and weaknesses when it comes to academia. For example, if a student is smarter in science, they might want to help their friend who is not as good in science and vice versa. 

When students are in assigned groups, they don’t have a very good idea of what everyone else is good at or needs help in which is harder for everyone when it comes to delegating the tasks. Students who take the lead in the group work may be giving group members tasks not knowing that it is not as well suited for them which could affect the quality of the overall project. 

The Solutions

Despite all these problems with assigned group work, there are definitely solutions that I believe will make group work less unfair and more enjoyable for students. 

So, this is why I believe that when there is a choice of group work, there should also be a choice of individual work. When students work individually, it may mean more work, but at least the teacher will know that whatever they did, it was all them and they deserve full credit. Individual work gives students a better and more realistic idea of responsibilities, such as being responsible for their own grade. In individual projects, if a student does not complete the assigned work, that would be a failing grade for them and since they did not put in the work, that would just be a consequence that they would need to undertake.  Additionally, students would be able to focus more on their task instead of trying to manage and handle group members who didn’t listen to the teacher and didn't know what to do. 

Another solution that I think would be beneficial for this situation would be groups that are chosen by the students. While this may be one of the more concerning options, such that because the groups are chosen, there might not be enough work being done, or friends in the same group might not be on task, the simple solution would be to separate that group with another group that is misbehaving - that is, only the students that have shown to their teacher that they cannot be trusted to work with their friends would be separated. 

A last alternative solution would be group work with individualized tasks. This would be the type of group work where the teacher would assign groups but the task itself would be individualized. This would still be assigning students to random classmates which might be aggravating to a certain extent, but it would also be giving the students the resources and people they need to complete the assignment. This would make students more proactive about their work while also putting a positive idea of involving groups in their minds. 

The Arguments Against My Arguments 

Some others might argue that group work is part of life and we need to learn how to deal with these kinds of situations. However, while this statement may be true, they aren’t factoring in not only how this affects the people who do the work, but in fact, the people who don’t do anything. These “slackers” will just get used to the fact that they don’t have to do anything and just give the work to others. This gives them no sense of accountability or responsibility and could also end up affecting their future. Should they end up in a more hardcore school, apart from the fact that they will be years behind on the general knowledge they need to complete the assignment, they won’t know how to do anything in the project because they have never even tried, which could lead to more serious consequences.  

Additionally, It might not be noticeable to the teacher but putting the kind of pressure on students that they have to be the leader of the group while also doing the work can begin to stress them out. Eventually, when these students get so used to the fact that they have to do the entire group assignment, not only is this ten times harder on them, but it lowers their overall morale. If they go into any assigned group project knowing that they will have to do all of the work, do you think that they will look forward to going to school every single day, let alone a single class, or going to college, or even getting a job? 

Another argument against my opinion could be that it's important to know how to collaborate and communicate with people and students in challenging situations where one or more of the members do not know how to contribute productively. But if you think about it, is assigned group work really a good solution to this? Instead of shoving students into assigned groups when we know that conflict will arise, shouldn’t teachers be teaching them how to communicate properly and use their words to express how they feel instead of those students getting frustrated and stressed out?  When a student like this does not know how to properly communicate with their group, collaboration will be extremely difficult.

Finally, a main counterargument against this is that we will never always get to be with our friends and sometimes we will have to deal with being the leader and doing all the work. While this statement is true, this does not mean that this should be normalized for certain students. We should all have the same educational experiences and not always have to be the helping person but at times, also the person who is being helped. When we do a lot for a group, we are forced to research and learn more than the others which can be extremely stressful and also harder when we don’t have a teacher around and have to do it individually. This statement is sadly, very true and unavoidable for some, so when a group project comes around, sometimes annoyingly, we will just have to deal with it. 

To sum up, the idea of group work is an extremely important tool that everyone will have to use in their futures. However, it's the type of group work that is what really matters. I believe that even though some students will have to undergo more stressful situations than others, it's still important for teachers to be able to read the situation and really think about whether assigned groups are what they want or what the students actually need.