Group work. Why I hate it?

- Dear Ma’am, although I sounded negative here, that was just what I truly felt and think. I do hope you will read through what I wrote because at the end, I always try to look at things positively and reasons myself why you do as you did.

I used to like the prospect of working with my friends, but now, not anymore. Why and what happened? Well, the first thing that comes to mind is because of the formation of the group itself. When we were first asked to do a group work, we were willing; but not until we were told to choose only people who are of different races and different gender.

Now, of course it is important for us to mix and work well together regardless of the gender and races. However, the thing is, we are already very close among the 75 of us. We never look at the other gender differently and we had worked numerous times with the opposite sex. When we choose our group, it was not our intention to only choose those of the same race, nor was there any intention for us to be bias or unfair. We choose our group to create a group that can work with each other in the best of ways. We want to create a group that can work the best together, that live near each other so we can discuss, that we are used to work with so we know how to handle the work, the best and worst qualities of each person to determine what responsibilities each should have.

But now we were always asked to form a new group with each of the new task. Meaning, we have to get use to each other, know their best and worst qualities, adjust to each other’s differing home and schedule in such a short time (as we have many other task from this subjects that sometimes always over-lapping the other). And as simple as that, that is the reason why.
However, I do try to see it in a new aspect- what Ma’am trying to do is a good thing too. It was just how we cope with it. Sometimes I realise that I take University life for granted. Of course there are many challenges, but how we manage our time and strive to achieve for the best that matters.

The real life is not that easy. We cannot always choose who we want to work with, who we will dealt with. In our future profession, we will meet all sorts of people. There would be times when we have to work with a total new people in a short period of time. If we cannot do it now, what about later, when we would not even have any other options, and we held responsible in whatever we do? So, I do think that what and how the formation of the groups by Ma’am is a good practice, though it does have the negative and disadvantage to it... and those were the exact things that we actually need to learn how to handle.