Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Shoutout!

I just noticed. Now that workloads are piling up in school (Groupworks especially), people are earning reputations. Example:

This person does his/her work blazing fast, and I can expect a good output from this person. He/She is a good groupmate.

This person is hard to contact. I only see him/her at school, and I rarely see him/her online. He/she does not respond to text messages, or denies even receiving them. This person experiences great difficulty at doing small tasks, like being on time to work on projects. This person literally begs for his/her grades.

I don't expect much from this person. I might give him/her something easy to do, like make small dice or cut paper or transport materials. No wait, I can't trust him/her with materials. I'm better off doing it myself. This person is hard to work with. I should avoid being his/her groupmate whenever possible.

I would make more progress talking to my pet than try to make this person work. At least I would receive inspiration from my pet. This person is ABSOLUTELY hard to work with. He/she says that we should work on something at someplace, trying to show that he/she wants to do something,but doesn't show up. Minutes/Hours later, I see him/her somewhere, apparently "busy" with something/someone, and shows no inclination to do work. When I talk to him/her, all he/she can say is sorry, but still shows no inclination to do work. I'd sooner team up with myself than him/her.

I'm not giving any names, but you know who you are. I'm not denying that I have my own shortcomings, but I do my work properly and punctually. I even help others if I have the time :>. I just hope that you see the error of your ways and start playing nice with your groupmates, especially in major requirements. If you make a bad name for yourself, you'll end up being the last one picked, you'll feel belittled, or worst of all, you'll end up with bad groupmates. Example:

There's a big project in SocSci. The teacher gives the class the liberty to choose their groupmates. Not wanting to end up with "bad" groupmates, the responsible people team up, forming "perfect" groups. Some others are chosen for special skills, like drawing, programming, photoshopping, easy acquisition of materials, etc. The ones who are last to get picked are those who have a bad reputation, like cramming the day before deadline, not cooperating, not responding, unreachable, inconsistent, or just plain lazy. In the worst case scenario, the rest of the class have successfully formed groups, while the others are still staring blankly elsewhere, waiting for a "friend" to pick them up, someone to call their attention, or to tell the teacher that they still have no group so they get assigned somewhere and hoping that he/she ends up in a good group. They also show certain traits, like when the teacher asks if the class wants grouping to be done "randomly" or "by friends", they always go for random. Not because they have no friends, but because even their friends wouldn't take them in.

Partly, this post is for personal purposes, a rant, if you will. Ending up with bad groupmates is the last thing anyone wants. However, this is also for those who feel that they are one of the people with an unclean record. It's not too late to change (very cliche).

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