Since I was in kindergarten, teachers and parents have told me that I have to learn to cooperate with others if I want to be successful. As a kindergartener, I accepted what everyone told me and believed that teamwork equals success.

However, as I grew up and learned to think more critically, I found out that group work sucks in so many ways. Here’s why:

Reason 1: the discussion process is often chaotic

People have too many opinions. When students gather and discuss group projects, too many opinions make the discussion chaotic. In this situation, no one can make decisions efficiently.

In addition, students often go off topic during discussions. A few weeks ago, my Chinese teacher asked my class to write group novels in teams of six. When my group was outlining the story, one girl started complaining about the teacher for assigning the project. Then, everyone else in the group joined in complaining. Discussions focused on the project became nearly impossible.

Reason 2: group projects are a waste of time

People who like group projects think that working as a group can save time, but actually, group work is a waste of time. For example, students usually need to spend extra time outside of classes to work on group projects together. If students have group projects online, they might face problems like slow replies, partners leaving them on “read”, and connection problems. If they meet in person, transportation takes time.

When my teammates and I were writing the group novel, there was one classmate who replied to messages slowly. I needed to have everyone agree to the story outline so that I could start writing but she always took so long to read the messages. Because of that girl’s late replies, I had to stay up late to finish the novel so our work wouldn’t be late.

The fact of the matter is, students don’t need group projects. If students want someone to give advice or bring new ideas to a project, they can simply ask their parents, teachers, or friends to look at the work and give suggestions. There is no need to waste time working with a classmate who isn’t going to put in the same level of work.

Reason 3: uneven contributions

Students don’t always do their work, especially in group projects.
I was in charge of the novel project so I assigned jobs for my groupmates. Just like I expected, my groupmates didn’t do their work and I ended up finishing the 15,000 word novel on my own.

What drove me even more crazy is that the teacher gave all of us the same grade. Most teachers don’t care about who contributes more and who always slacks off. All they care about is the final project that students hand in. No one will put in much effort when they can be lazy and rely on harder working students and still receive the same grade. It’s simply unfair.

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Even though most people think group projects are beneficial, teachers should consider reducing the number of group projects since they are not as beneficial as people believe.

Group projects might be easier for teachers to grade, but the extra time students spend on them, the unnecessary discussions, and also the unfair contributions and credits make group projects poor tasks for students.

If I get the chance to tell my teachers that group projects suck, I will without hesitation.