As a student, working with others around us is inevitable. Sure, we all enjoy talking to our peers and sharing ideas about the topic of study amongst each other. However, there are two words that any professor can mutter causing an entire room of students to cringe and sigh: group projects.

Specifically, in college, group projects are meant to enhance our collaboration skills which are needed for those planning on heading into the workforce. Yet, all they do us create unneeded excess stress.

Group projects in the workforce are taken very seriously. Even though they can also be stressful, they are very different from group projects in college. If you do not contribute to the project in college and you do not do your part, somebody will most probably cover you to save their own grade.

If you do not contribute to a project in the real world, you could be in danger of losing your job. There must be some people in some work environments that let others do their job for them, but, eventually this much catch up to them either causing them to at least fall behind if not to face a worse fate.

In a college classroom setting, the most you could possibly lose by slacking on a group project is a few points off your final grade if the professor is even to offer a peer review section for your peers to report you. Even with this peer review section put in place, most students just give each other a high grade even if they do not deserve it to save both their reputations and their grades.

The reality of group projects is that the person who is not putting effort into a group project negatively affects every other member of the group. When it comes to group projects, they rarely, if ever go how professors both expect and want them to go.

Unfortunately, last semester I had to take part in two group projects. Both of the groups never met outside of class due to conflicting scheduled events and responsibilities. Each project was completed through two brief class meetings and through Google Docs and Slides. There was little to no communication and both projects were very unorganized.

Needless to say, I ended up completing both group projects almost completely on my own with minimal assistance from my group members. (If you guys are reading this, you are all welcome for the A’s I got us.)

The point that I am trying to make is that group projects in college are not beneficial by any means. I am not saying this because I do not like working with people, because I really do. I am saying this because there is no learning going on and there is too much stress involved for the people who actually care about their grades and other people.

In my opinion, if professors want students in their classes to collaborate and work together, they should either set stricter guidelines and rules or they should watch their student's collaborations more closely.

Much improvement is needed for the future of group projects in college. There needs to be time for students to meet in person, such as class time to collaborate with other students, and to discuss what needs to be done to avoid working solely online and not face-to-face, and to avoid one person doing all of the work.

If the lesson that professors truly want to convey when they assign group projects is for students to learn how to work with others, then students need to learn how to actually contribute to a group and how to work people face to face and through screens.