I'd rather be left to do all the work on a group project than to end up with people who want to help, but aren't up to my standard. I'm carrying a 4.0 GPA, doing all of the extra credit assignments that I can, and am currently sitting at a better than perfect score in three of my five classes this semester. I can see the class average for pretty much every test, assignment, or overall attendance, and the class as a whole isn't even managing a B. Very much a group of people who only do what they have to to get by. And then they expect me to work with these people? The best case scenario is that I end up doing all of the work. Because then at least I know that I'll maintain my grades. Gods help me if those slackers actually start trying to contribute.
Other complaints would include the fact that I am going to a small school, so my class options are very limited. There is no testing out of History because there are only a few options to fulfill the requirements of my degree. So I'm sitting in Civilization I with people who think Cleopatra built the pyramids and that Rome and Greece were the same place. They listen to the lectures (as far as I can tell), but never do the reading outside of class, so the discussion portion tends to be myself and the professor. I'm not necessarily against that, but I read history books for pleasure. So it becomes very tedious to limit our discussions to an introductory course level when the rest of them just don't care. I wouldn't be nearly so upset about this, but there are no more specific courses offered at this school, so it isn't like I can suffer through this and then go take a course on Ancient Egypt later. This is as good as it gets, at least until I transfer in two years.
If I were to try to condense my complaints, it is basically that I hate other students. I hate that they come to class and sit there like lumps, offering nothing productive to the class but more than happy to grumble about the fact that I am showing them up. I hate that I spent a week of class time on peer review for my first paper in Composition I, had not one single bit of constructive criticism from any of my classmates, and eventually had to go to the tutoring center to improve it after being told "this is perfect" over and over and over. I hate that they all complain that I'm making them look bad because I actually do the assignments (even when they aren't for a grade), but are more than happy to copy down my work. I'm actually curious to see how many of my classmates learn that plagiarism doesn't just apply to published works with this paper.
I want to be surrounded by people who really want to learn, who are passionate about the subjects they're taking. Not more of the dullards I went to secondary school with, who don't care and are only here because they have to be. This is university, no one has to be here anymore. If you'd rather be somewhere else, go be there. Or get with the bloody program.
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