The idea of group projects can be controversial among students. While some students love the idea of slacking off and letting others do the project for them, the rest of the group is left to pick up their responsibilities. Group projects work if each person in the group works well together, every person in the group puts in the same amount of effort and does as they are supposed to. However, more often than not, one person is left to pick up the slack of everyone else. This is the most obvious problem with group projects; one student does all the work while the rest of the group benefits off of their efforts. This leaves the student to not only do their own work, but to do double or sometimes even triple amounts of the project. Another situation could be that a few group members complete their part of the project, but one student in the group leaves their assignment unfinished. The one student’s laziness could potentially affect everyone in the group’s grade. 

Students’ grades should not be affected by the poor work ethic of their classmates. 

For most group projects, the groups are randomly assigned or picked by a teacher, meaning that students have no say in who they must work with. Problems may occur with this if students do not get along with one another. It is difficult for students to work together if there is an issue with their peers. It may prevent the group from working coherently or from getting their work done. Also, students can get stuck with classmates who might not be willing to work or put in an equal amount of effort. Some students simply prefer to work by themselves to complete a project. Group projects requiring students to interact with one other can also give students social anxiety. Working with others on a project and possibly having to reason and debate might be nerve wracking to shy students. 

From an educational standpoint, group projects are not the most beneficial learning opportunity. If most of the students dump their work on another person, they learn nothing and get no educational value from the project. Another problem might be if students mess around the whole time or put the work off until the end of the time period, then they will be forced to cram at the last minute and learn nothing. 

The excuse that many teachers use in support of group projects is that it gives students a chance to bounce ideas off of one another and share opinions about topics. Group projects are good opportunities for students to work together and distribute the work for everyone’s benefit. However,  group projects only work if each group member puts in an equal amount of effort, stays on task and works well together in a civil manner. More often than not though, it is rare that in a group project all members are on the same level intellectually and can work well together. Some aspect normally distracts the group or the members push off the tasks onto someone else. So yes, group projects can work but in very rare situations. 

Group projects have been a reoccurring event in the classroom in which there is more lost than gained. While students often enjoy working together, group projects do not add much educational value to the school day and are a waste of time. Schools would be better off without group projects and would benefit with more time spent actually teaching.