Attention all professors: group projects should be avoided at all costs. The older students get, the more annoying and difficult it is to work in a group project for class.

I am in my second of two group projects I have had this year and it has been a hassle just to find a time where all of us aren’t working, out of town or in class. The only time we had to meet was the night before our presentation for a few hours, and even then we didn’t have enough time to complete the entire project.

The previous project I had was in a group of five, including one person who commutes every day from Champaign. It was required we all be present for the assignment because it could only be done using a certain computer program in Blair Hall.

The only time our schedules didn’t conflict while Blair was open was at 7 a.m. I was cursing having to get up at 6:30, so I can only imagine what the guy from Champaign was saying when he rolled out of bed at 5:30.

The point is, most college students have a lot going on in any given day whether it’s going to class, having a job, studying for tests or commuting to school each day.

Sometimes these tasks even leave little time to eat, so attempting to work on a group project that requires a good chunk of time out of students’ daily schedules can be very difficult.

Grading group assignments also can be unfair and, at the college level, can be tough to tell who actually put effort into the assignment.

If one group member slacks off while the rest does their assigned task, how does that help the learning process? People either want to learn or they don’t. Group projects won’t always change the minds of those who do little work to begin with.

In most cases, but not in any of mine so far, there is that one group member who just doesn’t participate as much as the others. There is no way of grading participation unless someone in the group tells on that member and people rarely want tell on someone else.

I do understand it is an important asset to be able to work and think in a group setting, but if someone has reached the college level and can’t already play well with others, obviously they have a social problem.

I think working in groups is essential in grade school and maybe high school, but college is a different setting.

Most college students don’t have that problem and can manage to work with people for a few hours, even with people they don’t like.

I also understand some professors have really large assignments that would be difficult for just one person to complete. How about a compromise here?

Cut the number of people in the group down to two or three and give them an extra week to work on it to make up for having less people. Another alternative is to give class time to work on the project.

These ways allow the teacher to hand out large, creative projects while the students don’t have to worry about pulling their hair out trying to complete it.

It is in my experience that most people in college don’t enjoy group work, so why continue to do it? Professors don’t have to rework their entire curriculum for my proposal, but if an assignment can be done without groups, try to make it that way.