Students should go to school to be educated, not to do other people’s work.  

Recently, I was put into a group with people who just agreed with what I said and wouldn’t share anything, why? THEY DIDN’T DO THEIR WORK. It’s annoying, and what’s funny is that teachers sometimes see this and don’t do anything about it, like are they really about to let these people freeload off of me? Come on, people. 

I get that some teachers think that putting students in groups will help them succeed, but this is high school–they need to learn to think for themselves. 

Some people will go to college and they won’t survive through it because they won’t have someone to copy off of, I mean *(cough cough)* “help” them, so why don’t teachers see this? They should know this. 

What’s even more interesting is that a teacher recently told my class that she would show us an example, but that we couldn’t use it because it was her thoughts and ideas, not ours. I felt that this contradicted the philosophy of group work. Why would I share my ideas in a group and risk another person repeating my ideas in their writing? 

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll share my ideas with people who do their work and can actually think for themselves, but for someone who just wants to jot down my ideas to use them later on or basically in other words “steal” them, I won’t stand for that. I’ll bounce ideas off of someone, but I am not going to do someone’s work for them.  

Teachers need to understand that if they were taught that group work is a great way for students to learn or something along those lines then they can use it, if it works. If not, then they should stop using it. It doesn’t make sense. If a strategy doesn’t work in your classroom, then why continue to use it and not care about a big flaw?

At the end of the day, teachers need to see what works best for their students for the sake of their education. A teacher’s job is to help a student succeed. If they’re training the world’s future leaders, they need to use strategies that are effective for their students. Be original, teachers, you don’t need to follow the book.

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the GENESIS staff. Email Mariem Boussaha at [email protected].