One for All and All for One

People think that we are very competitive at this university and that this competition can often be destructive. They think we hide our work or things that others need, that we screw up stuff on others’ computers and tear out pages from textbooks so that others can’t use them. Things like that.

I know it's true. I have an older friend who goes to another University, and does meds. It seems that there, it is really aggressive and vicious. Some have cars, but when they have to go to a hospital in the suburbs, they never give each other rides. There's always some excuse, such as dry cleaning that has to be picked up on the way. People put each other down all the time; my friend was scorned because he did part of an internship in a very rural area, mostly with First Nation people. "Passport Country", was what the others called it. These people always did whatever would make them look good, whether there was any actual achievement there or not. They did just enough of something to make it look good on a resume, then they quit. Worse: they did whatever they could to make the people they didn't like look bad -- diminish their achievements and their work, and spread rumours about them that they knew would get back to Profs and supervisors.

But it doesn’t happen here. I think that people have this myth and it’s just not true. I don’t know if it used to be like that but I have to say, I’ve never seen it or heard of it, and trust me, if it did happen it would be all over the place at once.

People leave laptops lying around and anyone can just walk right into the building off the street and steal it. But they don’t. We have competitions with monetary prizes, and still people help each other. In the beginning, maybe some do hide their work because they think they are doing something very great and special and they want to hand in work that will prove how good they really are. But it doesn’t take long for everyone to realize that they won’t come up with anything that someone hasn’t done before and that we are all really struggling and we are all on the same page.

I find here that the competition here is more like wanting to get a higher grade but it’s nothing vicious. If you ask someone for help, people will be glad to assist. I don’t find there is a downside to the competition other than comparing yourself constructively with others and wanting to get a better grade.

I’m not saying that we’re not competitive at all and that people don’t sometimes play games. Some people, when they go to the Teacher Assistants, try to make it seem that they’re not going because they need help. You look at them at a desk near yours, and they’re trying to look like they know more about the work than the TA. They compete with each other to impress the Prof. And they talk smart with each other; they have to convince each other that they are the best. I definitely see that a lot. Scary really, because most of these people intend to go into Meds. I often wonder if they’ll make the best doctors with attitudes like that.

Another thing that I really don’t care for is group projects. Some people complain that they end up doing most of the work because others know that they can do good work and so the group can get the best possible mark. So one person often gets ganged up on by the others to do most of it and then the others just check it over when it’s done and put their name on it as if everyone worked the same on the project.

But my most unpleasant experience was different. Last year I had a group project with a few other students who assumed that I didn’t know much. Two members of the group knew each other, and they assumed I wasn’t up to being trusted to do any of the stuff that was difficult or interesting. If I asked a question, they would look at me … why don’t you know the answer? Sometimes I found out later that they didn’t know the answer either, and other times it wasn’t that kind of question at all – it was more, ‘What would happen if we looked at it in this way rather than that way?’

So they tried to give me the most tedious and boring parts of the assignment, and keep the interesting parts for themselves. I kept asking for more and telling them I could do the work and questioning them as to why they wouldn’t give me anything substantial. But they were determined to do it themselves. I felt they completely pushed me out of the project. My feeling was that we were all in this class together and we all needed to do well so I didn’t understand why they were trying to keep me out of this.

And when we made our presentation, they had actually done something wrong (I saw it right away), and the teacher corrected them, which of course meant a lower mark for all of us. If I had seen their part of the work, I could have corrected the mistake, but no, they were just going to do it by themselves and leave me with the most menial stuff.

I know I’m a loner, and I don’t really like any group assignments. But I’m always around with other people doing work with them. We work together on reviewing lectures later in the day or the next day, we read each others’ work before it gets handed in, and we review together for exams. And it’s not always with the same people, because not all classes have the same people in them. You really can’t work except in groups with at least one other person, because it would get too tedious and boring, and only your brain would be working on it, instead of two, or four, or six. But for me, it’s important to know that it’s my own work that I’m responsible for, and that even when I’ve worked closely with other people, I’m not responsible for their work: they are.