TJ & group projects

[Anonymous]

pettifogger wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to the real world. You have to be able to work with other people, and in some cases drag up stragglers, and you’re evaluated on the basis of whether or not your team gets the job done.

If that’s uncomfortable for you or your child, gainful employment may not be their (or your) best option.

a school environment of peers of entirely different than a work environment. And if it's standard then yes she'll have to suck up doing most of the work when she gets dud partners and get used to it I guess. But it felt like way more of these (or maybe just more bad luck on partners) this year vs last which is why i asked.
- OP

PP. Sure, it's different, but it's a decent analog for what they'll experience later in life. When you get right down to it, most of life (including work, parenting, being part of a family) is graded group work. Life isn't fair, and one of the best things you can do for your kid is to help them understand this and help them move beyond the anxiety that unfairness creates if it's out of their control. This is coming from decades of TJ experience, btw.

I’m not aiming to reinforce anxiety and sure you have to work together as adults but the school dynamics are really different from how team projects operate at work. There is much more accountability and recourse in the latter if someone isn’t doing the part they were assigned.

It’s been 3 major projects now in just the last few months where DC has ended up doing an outsized amount of the work.

Useful reality check that this amount of group projects is normal. It still strikes me as a really high amount but if it is what’s been going on for years and just is the norm then yes they’ll just need to suck it up.

But I’m biased because I hated group projects too as a kid.

- OP

Isn't the simple solution here for her to chat with her teacher about it? A good teacher would normally ask each individual in the group to write out which portions of the projects they were responsible for/worked on. As long as she shows that she did the bulk of the work, the teacher should then find a solution for her for the next project (either via extra credit, or assigning her partners who do pull their weight).

but that would expose the current lottery admissions cover that let in mediocre students for equity purposes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is a sophomore at TJ and seems to have a ton of partner / group projects this year. Is this typical for sophomore year or a change? It’s a big source of anxiety since a lot of the partners don’t do much work but it’s a group grade.

What courses are these?

[Anonymous]

My DC (new admissions system) consistently has to do their partners work. Project/presentations supposed to be 50/50 but DC’s partner had not done their share as of midnight the day before presentation. My DC had to get up early and basically finish the prep. Partner kept making excuses all along that they’d get it done. Day of presentation said sorry had two big tests to study for. Still didn’t do their part. It’s extremely frustrating. Has encountered this every year across variety of classes.

[Anonymous]

Rsndomly stopping by to say "This is Life".

Conscientious people do get taken advantage of.

I was an MBA student at a Top 20 business school. Had a group paper due in a couple of hours. Classmate shows up as we are assembling the paper to announce she didn't have time to write her two pages and needed to leave for an international flight so it wasn't going to get done. As I furiously scrambled to write her portion and stitch the other pieces together, another teammate told me to "relax my expectations".
I was totally shocked. Another time on a group project a married new mom told me the night before that she couldn't do her part because her baby had a common cold. Grad students! With weeks of advance notice to get the work done!

Some people luck out and find great workplaces. Some are surrounded by clever advantage-takers. That's how it goes. I suppose it's realistic to deal with it now. Learning to read people and assess trustworthiness and how to motivate others is useful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rsndomly stopping by to say "This is Life".

Conscientious people do get taken advantage of.

I was an MBA student at a Top 20 business school. Had a group paper due in a couple of hours. Classmate shows up as we are assembling the paper to announce she didn't have time to write her two pages and needed to leave for an international flight so it wasn't going to get done. As I furiously scrambled to write her portion and stitch the other pieces together, another teammate told me to "relax my expectations".
I was totally shocked. Another time on a group project a married new mom told me the night before that she couldn't do her part because her baby had a common cold. Grad students! With weeks of advance notice to get the work done!

Some people luck out and find great workplaces. Some are surrounded by clever advantage-takers. That's how it goes. I suppose it's realistic to deal with it now. Learning to read people and assess trustworthiness and how to motivate others is useful.

Bull sheet story. Expected of equity warriors to justify no merit admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve had 2 at TJ. Yes group projects are a big part of school all the way through. There are always a few procrastinators but generally my kids said TJ group members were better than the equivalent from their middle school days. It always works out ok. Most kids there are highly motivated to get the A.

Except for the DEI admits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve had 2 at TJ. Yes group projects are a big part of school all the way through. There are always a few procrastinators but generally my kids said TJ group members were better than the equivalent from their middle school days. It always works out ok. Most kids there are highly motivated to get the A.

Except for the DEI admits.

+1

[Anonymous]

Slackers of the world unite!

[Anonymous]

Who are these PPs saying DEI admits are the slackers? I would put big money on the coddled, prepped, elitist majorities being the most likely offenders in shirking work to less assertive teammates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who are these PPs saying DEI admits are the slackers? I would put big money on the coddled, prepped, elitist majorities being the most likely offenders in shirking work to less assertive teammates.

Agree. Not just DEI admits, but all bottom half of lottery admits are into higher order of thinking, their grades in low level math like trig and calc shouldn't be used to judge them. Equity should be priority over Cs and Ds.

[Anonymous]

Good lord. I have two kids at TJ. Under new admissions. The procrastinators have actually bee East & South Asian kids. Not that race is the issue. Those kids were just procrastinators who didn’t give a hoot about non science classes.

[Anonymous]

Jeez people give it a rest with the preppers vs DEI admits messages!!!!not every thread has to be about that!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who are these PPs saying DEI admits are the slackers? I would put big money on the coddled, prepped, elitist majorities being the most likely offenders in shirking work to less assertive teammates.

In our experience with two kids at TJ who were admitted under different systems. There's a remarkable improvement in the school's atmosphere. It'smuch less toxic now. I suspect this has to do with eliminating the do anything to win mentality that came with the test buyers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good lord. I have two kids at TJ. Under new admissions. The procrastinators have actually bee East & South Asian kids. Not that race is the issue. Those kids were just procrastinators who didn’t give a hoot about non science classes.

About 80% of TJ is procrastinators. Got it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who are these PPs saying DEI admits are the slackers? I would put big money on the coddled, prepped, elitist majorities being the most likely offenders in shirking work to less assertive teammates.

In our experience with two kids at TJ who were admitted under different systems. There's a remarkable improvement in the school's atmosphere. It'smuch less toxic now. I suspect this has to do with eliminating the do anything to win mentality that came with the test buyers.

Liar!