Go Team - NOT!

A week or so ago, Daniel arrived back from school extremely upset and close to tears. He wasn't sad. He was frustrated. I let him calm down, and then we talked about what was wrong. As he explained the problem, it turned out that I could really, really relate to it. He had been assigned a class project - and assigned a partner with whom to work on it. They had to do research and then do a presentation. I knew what was coming next. And, if you went to school in Canada, you do too.

It seems that his partner was rather uncommitted to the project, and after a number of days of cajoling and nagging his partner, and pleading with his teacher to intervene, Daniel had had enough. On the day it was due, his partner had not done his part and Daniel was convinced that he would receive a failing grade. He was devastated.

Not surprisingly, every other parent to whom I have related this tale understands the issue, and has their own plethora of like examples, not only from their children but from their very own school experience, and they remain as mystified as I as to why on Earth our educators continue to insist on pairing the doers with the non-doers, and giving out a group mark, thereby forcing the doers to perform and letting the non-doers coast along and reap the benefits. What kind of lesson is there in that?

I once complained to a teacher in junior high school that I was carrying the load for my pre-selected team (one of the members of which has had a wonderful career as a Zamboni driver for the past 25 years) on a project where we would get a "group" mark. Her response was nonchalant and she simply indicated that this was how things worked in real life. I found her position puzzling at the time and, I must confess, it left me a little skeptical of just what the adult working world was going to be like when I entered it. Did my parents work in places where they had carry slackers? When I grew up, would I be denied a promotion or a raise because my boss made me work with someone who didn't do what they were being paid to do? If I complained about the inequity, would my boss simply shrug and tell me this was "real life"? Could someone that stupid really be a boss?

Fortunately, just as I suspected at the time, real life is not like that. Sure, there are slackers in every workplace, but they rarely go anywhere other than their desk, and if I have had to work with one or two on a team, I have never had an difficulty convincing the higher powers that they either do not deserve any credit or that they need to be cut from the team altogether. Indeed, I and several of my professional colleagues have made a nice living advising employers that - yes - they can cut the slackers from the team, and how to do it. It was also comforting to confirm that most bosses did not get to the top by being slackers themselves. I have no doubt they paid their dues in school, carrying a slacker or two themselves for that "group" mark.

I have often wondered over the years why educators pair or team kids up this way. If the point is to ensure that the teams are evenly "matched", then teachers should at least be prepared to provide the oversight necessary to ensure that work is distributed equitably amongst team members, and they need to be prepared to address failure to complete the work undertaken. It is simply unfair to ask children in elementary school to supervise other team members. There is no power of sanction at their disposal. If the teacher doesn't enforce the work, the only lesson I see for the kids who do not do the work is that they can, in fact, coast along and there will be no consequences. Likewise, the lesson for the kids who do the work is that no matter how good they are, or how hard they work, they will pay the price for shoddy or no work by other team members.

What would the result be if teachers put the slackers together? When this was suggested to me the first time, I automatically jumped to the conclusion that chaos and failure would ensue, but on closer examination, I think it would create incredible opportunities for more kids to learn leadership skills and the value of pulling one's weight on a team. Students who would ordinarily coast simply couldn't. Students would not ordinarily feel confident enough or have the opportunity to lead, would get that chance. Wouldn't it be easier to learn this in grade 4 than in first year university or in one's first real job?

Daniel's story has a happy ending. On the sage advice of my dear friend, She of Many, I told him to stand up for himself and to go to his teacher and tell her that he would finish the project on his own. He would have to ask her for an extension. He did all of that, and his teacher, thankfully, accommodated him. In the end, though I say this with reluctance, I suppose that he learned something very valuable from the experience.