Group projects

I am a big fan of group discussion. Getting your students into small groups can be really helpful for fostering discussion, particularly for those who don't feel comfortable speaking up in front of a large class. At the senior-undergraduate and graduate levels, small group seminars can produce some excellent discussion and exchange of ideas. Group projects, however, are a whole other kettle of fish (yes, I just said that, judge me if you will). It's one thing for students to discuss ideas (or in a lab, collect data together), but having them be evaluated as a group is a recipe for disaster:

via I Love Charts

The only way for a group project to work is if all the people in the group have similar motivation, goals, and knowledge, which rarely happens in an undergraduate course. There's always that one person who doesn't show up for meetings or does a half-assed job of their part of the project (if they do anything at all). I've had more than my share of group projects where I ended up doing the majority of the work so that we didn't fail. Almost everyone I know has expressed their extreme dislike for group projects.

So the question is, who are the people who think forcing students to do group work is a good idea? This keeps happening in undergraduate classes. Were they the assholes people who didn't do much during their group projects and let the over-achiever in their group do all the work? I can see these people having the impression that group projects were fun. Or, given that the over-achievers seem most likely to go on to become professors, are they assigning group projects because of a sadistic need to do to the students that which was done to them? Perhaps it is out of a desire to be helpful and teach the students a valuable lesson (i.e., that people suck). Why? Why do we keep making students do these horrible group projects? I hereby vow to only use group work and discussion when it will enhance students' learning and to only evaluate my students as individuals. You know, once I actually have a job and students.