October 14, 2009
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Bad Groups and Plastic Spatulas
Allow me to briefly gripe about school. Sometimes I really don’t get why people go onto get their Masters. Are they forced to by their employers? Are they forced to by their situation? There’s been several times that I’ve questioned why some people are there. God forbid that they actually want to learn or realize that they have to do work. It’s frustrating for those that actually want to do well in school like myself.
I’m taking statistics right now and we have to do a group project. We had a basic outline of our project due Tuesday (as in yesterday) by 11:59pm. I am not staying up until 11:59pm to turn in an assignment. I do have to work as well. Trying to coordinate time to get together was just painful for this week because everyone in the group had different schedules so I wrote up the entire assignment that we had to turn in and sent an email asking everyone to take a look at it and comment on it by 7pm on Tuesday evening so I could get everything together and post by 9pm. I did this on Sunday and didn’t hear from anyone until about 8pm last night and then I only heard from one person. Sigh…
I understand that some people are forced to go to college. Either their parents or other family members want them to go or there are other forces pressing against them to go. I understand that there may be some people that are forced to go to grad school but I have to imagine that most people go because there is some part of them that wants to go. One would think that they would at least act like they want to be there…
Of Note: The contractors came back to put an additional lock on the front door (sort of like a hotel door type lock). They told us that the leasing company’s insurance and the woman who had the fire’s insurance are fighting over who has to pay for repairs to her apartment because the woman is claiming that there was a plastic spatula left in the oven from the previous owners and she didn’t notice it when she went to use the oven. I’m not sure how much I believe that because she came over and apologized for having the fire that resulted in our doors being busted and said that it was because of a malfunction with the oven… not that there was a plastic spatula. I’m not sure that I believe it also because the leasing company cleans pretty thoroughly between residents. Bottom line: I hope that there are no more plastic spatulas left in any oven in our building no matter who did or did not put them there!
Comments (14)
Group work is a curse. I always ended up as the one, or one of two, who carried the rest of the group. How is it that the practice is continually perpetuated by teachers — did they never have to do group work? Did they forget that it’s simply an outer circle of hell for better students?
And a spatula, eh?
That is one reason why I havent gone on to get a Masters. I have always thought of school as a job of sorts. When I am done ‘work’ at the end of the day, I want to be done. I dont want to have to take it home. With any sort of school? That just isnt possible!
And I just love stupid people! (How did she know there was a spatula there if she didnt see it?!
)
that’s uber frustrating. Luckily so far my teammates have been good. Some people do just go just because their company would pay for it. A guy that sits next to me said that’s why he’s in the program, despite the fact he think he won’t use this masters in the future.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY tomorrow!!! sorry, no time to read cuz i’m going to CO in a few hours…
well, i think people generally dislike group projects. or maybe they’re just grudgingly do what they need to do to secure career advancement by returning to school. ha. older Billy Madisons.
Your group needs a stern lecture. Sometimes it’s the same when you’re at work but at least with work, you can always talk to the manager.
This is the problem when working with others. Hope the situation gets better.
Unfortunately, you’ll find this to be a perennial problem with groups of people no matter what situation you are in- school, work, friends…you name it. Some of the folks will just be lazy or bad time managers and will be hard pressed to do the minimal they are required to do. You are also in the bad type of scenario because they don’t have a boss, and can’t be threatened with being fired. You have to play the role of motivator and persuader in addition to your own tasks. Hopefully the other person who at least made an attempt will help you get the others in line.
The “spatula” story sounds sketchy. How does a spatula wind up being stored in an oven anyway.
It is not easy to work in group.. There always is someone behind that we have to haul !!!
Please be not discouraged .
Love
Michel
NOT a fan of the group project. You’re only as good as your weakest link OR you bite the bullet and just do it and let the others benefit.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGAIN!
Out of curiosity is did this neighbor move into the apartment recently?
As far as the group work goes, the lack of responses on the group work sounds… “encouraging”
For many, a Masters is a box they have to check as they move along in their career field. It’s like that in the military. Steve actually did one he was interested that pertained to his job, but a lot of guys just want the cheapest and easiest. You just can’t go past Major in the AF without a Masters. And i know other career fields are that way. Teaching is that way in better school systems. I was shocked that Masters teachers are rare where we live now. A fellow teacher was bragging to me about her masters and I was thinking, “What? Do you want a cookie?” but later someone told me that it’s a HUGE deal around here because no one does it.
Another lame academic group? Sigh/argh
We’re about to have some things renovated in our house to get it ready to sell in the spring when the military sends us to our new assignment. I’ll grumble to you about contractors in the house if I need to
@epiginoskete - Every time I have tried to ask a professor about group work, they’ve told me something along the lines of “well, you have to work in groups in the real world.” While this is true, I know from my own job that people who don’t do work often find themselves without a job. In school, some people don’t really care about getting bad grades. On the spatula item, yup a plastic spatula, which would explain the horrible synthetic smell that came from the fire
@der_lila_Stern - Eh, very true. I went on to do my Masters because 1. I really wanted to do it before I started a family and 2. I kind of need it for my job. I’ve always liked school though and although my schedule is really tight with work and school, I’m getting through it and I’m almost finished!
@Roadlesstaken - Meh, I know there are going to be classes that I don’t use in the future (ahem, statistics) but on the whole, I think I’ll be able to use a lot of the things I’m learning.
@travelerblue - Thank you!
@TheBigShowAtUD - I wonder if they sing “Back to school, back to school, to prove to Daddy I’m not a fool”…
@ElusiveWords - Yeah, I had to get a professor involved with group work in the spring semester because there was this one woman in my group that didn’t want to do anything…
@christao408 - @fauquet - This too shall pass
@SoullFire - I dunno. I kind of have a feeling that the woman may have forgotten the spatula in the dish she was cooking in. It sounds really sketchy. I’m hoping that she doesn’t decide to cook any more plastic utensils when she moves back in.
@ItsWhatEyeKnow - I have way too much of a type A personality to simply lay back and not do work. It sucks when you have to take on more of other people’s work but I just would rather not suffer bad grades because of it.
@Redshirte - She moved in probably about a month to 2 months before she had the fire so she really hadn’t been there for that long. That’s kind of another reason that I kind of don’t believe that the former residents left a spatula in the stove. Who doesn’t check their oven in two months?
@BigToePeople - Wow, that’s so strange. In most Maryland counties, it’s now required that teachers get their Masters within two years of becoming a public school teacher. There’s no way around it. The nice thing is that a lot of the bigger counties (MoCo and Frederick for instance) will pay for the teachers to get their Masters, which is a pretty sweet deal!
Grumble away. I know all about contractors now
@TheCheshireGrins - It is always worth it when you are finished!