Saved by Zero

I had a project a few weeks ago.  It was pretty cool, if you ask me.  Then again, I planned it so I'm probably not the person to really ask about how cool the project was becausethestudents'opinionsaretheonlythingthatmatterandteacher-centeredlearningmakesmeadinosaurthatissimplyperpetuatingthenon-innovativenessofourcurrentpubliceducationsystem.  Anyway, whether or not the project was cool is something for another post.  The various end-products of the project were more or less pretty good, and I could tell that those groups of students who put the effort in really had a lot of fun working on them.

However, there were several students who didn't hand anything in at all and are now really in the pits because of the way that zero affected their grades.  It's one of two inevitabilities of assigning a group project: either you'll have a handful of constant absentees who wind up working independently because of said absenteeism; or you have people who don't lift a finger.  The absentees are usually given a reasonable extension and I'd say about 90% of the time, make that up with no problem.  But then there is this exchange ...

Me:  You guys ready to present?
Group: We don't have it.
Me:  Okay, well, you can go tomorrow, but it's late.

Or, this one ...

Me: You guys ready to present?
Group Member: Nobody did anything and I'm not doing it myself.


I often find myself annoyed by the idea that this is an acceptable train of thought.  I find myself further annoyed when I think of why this comes about.  Going all the way back to my licensure classes, I remember talking about group projects and how good they were but the myriad problems that could occur and how we all had to adjust our grading rubrics to accommodate for those problems.  The message sent was that while they may be working as a group, you must grade each student based on his or her individual effort in the group.  I remember one particular person telling me that they graded group projects in several "steps" so they "remained fair."

That was something, to me, that seemed to completely counter the idea of a group project.  Isn't the idea of a group project that you collaborate to produce something your group can present (and hopefully be proud of) together?  And while I know that there are often people in groups who do nothing, isn't that one of the challenges that people face every day in the working world anyway?  I remember quite a number of instances where someone I worked with did next to nothing on a project yet the show, as it was, had to go on. 

And sometimes the show has to go on because failure to meet a deadline doesn't mean a potential failing grade, but a loss of money for the company (and potentially a loss of one's own job).  Granted, my late policy is fair (zeros come into play after a week's lateness), but I have to admit I can't help but be annoyed by an inability to turn something in on time, or the inability to tell me about it beforehand.  I mean, there are those times when shit happens and you're not able to get your project in to me and I can be reasonable, but just simply not doing it ... ?

I have heard a lot of negative things about zeros in my time, but I have to say that I wonder if sometimes we get so scared of zeros hurting students' grades that we give them too many chances and then hurt them in another way--by never teaching them the value of a deadline.  In fact, very often by giving too many chances to make up work, isn't that what leads to them taking generosity for granted?