GROUP PROJECTS ARE ANTI AMERICAN EXPERIENCES

GROUP PROJECTS ARE ANTI AMERICAN EXPERIENCES

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

When teachers assign projects that are not done by an individual student but by a group of students, they are changing the focus and philosophy of traditional American education.  In the past students went to school to learn the three Rs- reading, writing and arithmetic. In the higher grades students concentrated on mentally challenging subjects. The objective was to give each student who earned the grades the necessary tools to be able to further their knowledge in a new avenue of their interests and choosing. Their direction might change with time but they were provided with the skills and abilities to accomplish it.

The US capitalist system was based on individual merit not on group results. In a socialist/communist nation early test results assign students to an academic track. Supposedly this is accomplished by “scientific experts” for the person’s entire school experience and academic career. These important decisions were made by the state not by the individual student. Most students were pigeonholed regardless of what would happen later in their lives.  Maturity, experiences, learned knowledge and initiative were not taken into account.

The United States model of individual freedom of choice and competition was a driving force in student decisions of a career track to pursue. High grades determined student success to advance in their chosen subject areas. Every student was evaluated on his own academic results. Low or high grades were not the responsibility of their classmates or even the teacher but were solely on the student.  In the past group projects in public school were sometimes assigned to everyone in the class or by groups but everyone was marked individually for their own contribution, as the teacher personally knew the children’s abilities.

Currently employing a group project is a means of evaluating the individual student compliance, cooperation and sharing not independent thinking, which has become fashionable in American college education. According to the format, a student is assigned to a small group where all the students receive the same grade for the project regardless of their participation or effort. Even if one student does all the work all students will receive an equal grade since the college professors may not even know the names of their students.

This modern academic practice encourages group thinking rather than American independent critical thinking and individualism.  There is no differentiation between member’s effort and quality of their work. Many conniving, lazy students are willing to take a lower grade rather than work to earn higher ones and do not care about personal integrity.

The rationale for group projects is to encourage cooperation among students. Often the doers cannot contact the non-doer connivers who rely on the responsible students to do their work. Instead of fostering competition and competence it encourages taking the easy political route to get others to do your work. Of course the socialist argues “each to his need not to his ability” while in a merit based capitalist society this undermines the work ethic, competition and personal initiative.

These school group projects that do not differentiate individual’s work make the teacher’s job easier since they only have to give one mark for the project not three or more. However it is not an accurate assessment of each individual student’s participation. It lowers the bar for the mediocre student and angers the doer who does not earn the recognition deserved.

This eroding of rewarding personal effort is a major reason socialism has been a failure worldwide. People who work hard and receive no acknowledgement or other incentives will eventually lose their inspiration to strive. The political system of doing as little as possible while demanding greater government handouts becomes common and acceptable to many people educated in this manner

The same practices are being used in corporate businesses where assignments are given to a group of middle management to complete but the politically astute member gets the credit while the most productive may go unrecognized. Merit should be rewarded for the best to rise to the top. We need to get back to academic freedom to discuss anything that is pertinent to the topic and not simplistic slogans.

Our American education and corporate world need to return to reflecting the American values of grade integrity, competition, freedom of speech, encouragement to express all ideas and merit for a quality product. The group approach is a socialistic educational indoctrination practice of no individual merit. This practice of controlling schools from the top down system where students are treated as a number will never be successful in creating a free, productive and vibrant nation.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN and a new book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.