I had a group presentation in my English class today. There was a girl in my group who contributed no work and was not here today to present the slides she should’ve made. I made her slides and presented her part, then told my English teacher that I did her work, and she contributed nothing (because she didn’t).
I feel guilty, though, like I screwed over her grade this semester. I feel like I shouldn’t have said anything about it and just lied on her behalf. Am I right to feel guilty?
Why should you cover for her? And most school have an honor code. If your teacher found out you lied it could backfire.
@jym626 Her grade will probably drop pretty heavily… I don’t know, I just feel bad on her behalf.
Did the teacher ask how each person contributed to the group or did you volunteer that the girl did nothing? If asked, one should not lie.
That was her choice. She needs to own responsibility. If there were extenuating circumstances, she can talk to the teacher directly herself and explain.
@skieurope She asked if they were the girl’s slides. I said they were supposed to be, but I had to do them.
That is the correct response, @CavsFan2003.
You answered honestly. That’s perfectly fine. It may be normal to feel a little guilty, but you did the right thing. Any hit on her grade is on her anyway.
As an aside for next year, your new school takes honor code very seriously.
Not sure what school you’ll be attending next year, but as I mentioned in post #1, you very well may have an honor code now, in your current school. My s’s HS had and honor code, and they took it VERY seriously. You didn’t rat out your classmate. You didn’t volunteer the information- you answered a question posed by the teacher, and you answered honestly. The fact that you feel guilty speaks to your moral character. But you did the right thing, which is hard. Good job.
Nope. In fact, you did the right thing.
I agree you did the right thing. DD has had group projects where everyone in the group gets the same grade, although usually in those cases she gets to pick who she works with. I hope yours isn’t graded like that!
If they don’t do the work, they deserve the bad grade.
Time and time again, my history teacher pairs me with some of the “less stronger” kids in my class. They realize that if they don’t do anything, I can’t get a bad grade, so I always end up doing everything and get an A. I’m so fed up with the entire system; I talk to my teacher but she says I have to deal with it when I grow up. It’s so aggravating; I started the quarter with a D last quarter because I tried doing only what I was supposed to do in a group project. My groupmates thought I was going to clutch up last minute—but nope! I think my teacher learned her lesson after that. It’s not fair.
@Groundwork2022 these projects are group projects where everyone gets the same grade AND we don’t get to pick our partners.
I agree with others. You did the right thing. You answered your teacher’s question honestly, which is very important.
“I feel guilty, though, like I screwed over her grade this semester.”
You did not. Whatever comes of this, she screwed you over by doing nothing, and she screwed herself over by doing nothing. If anything bad comes from this, it is her fault and not yours.
“I feel like I shouldn’t have said anything about it and just lied on her behalf.”
Do not lie. Especially do not lie to teachers or professors. If you had lied, then you could have gotten into significant trouble. This is her fault for putting you into this position.
Each student’s work is subtly distinct. Your teacher probably could tell that the slides were your work. It is very fortunate that you told the truth.
You have no reason to feel guilty. You did the right thing. This is an important lesson that you have learned. Something sort of similar is likely to come up again at some point during the rest of your life.
If the teacher asked you whether they were her slides, the teacher probably already suspected, and wanted confirmation. There may even be a valid reason why she didn’t do the work, but that would be between her and the teacher. As others have mentioned, it would have been an honor code violation at many schools if you allowed her to take credit for your work.
Only thing I might add is that you might want to let the student know what you were asked and what your replied, so she doesn’t get herself in additional trouble by lying. You did what you had to do.
I wouldn’t even go there.
Why was the girl not there?
Was she sick?
Was she cutting classes?
Did she skip because she know she didn’t do anything?
In none of these cases is it your fault. If the student was having issues, she should be talking to the teacher. If she doesn’t want to do the work, she is getting the consequences of that decision.
I agree, I would not volunteer any info the the student. If she asks, you tell the truth.
@squ1rrel --" I talk to my teacher but she says I have to deal with it when I grow up. It’s so aggravating; "
Don’t believe it.
Take heart. Group projects in the real work world are more likely to be made up of people who have special skills that are needed by a group to get a specific job done. The members are usually hand picked by a leader which is the furthest thing from your teacher’s POV. It is true that you need to learn to “play well with others” since that person with the skill may be someone you don’t like on some personal level but overall you shouldn’t (and wouldn’t) be expected to put up with slackers.
OTOH for the future–all the way through grad school even… and then hopefully this nonsense will taper off…take a bit of time to learn how to assess skills of others in a group. Take charge. You already know your own strengths. Break down the project. List the components. All of the jobs. See what excites someone (or doesn’t). Don’t leave major components to anyone who might not come through. Be more proactive in choosing your own groups.
To OP–you did exactly right.
You answered the teacher’s question with integrity. Good choice. Leave it at that. As Robert Mueller has said in a commencement address: If you have integrity, nothing else matters. And if you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.
Agree, her problem is her problem. She didn’t do the work.
And that, NO, you don’t need to cover for her further by telling her anything. Let her deal with the teacher on her own
She made her choices. Not your responsibility to be in the middle.
Move on.