Nowadays many high schools and universities require students to work on projects in groups, and all members of the group receive the same grade (mark) on the project. Do you agree or disagree that giving every member of a group the same grade is a good way to evaluate students? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. Be sure to use your own words. Do not use memorized examples.

There is a great debate about whether the same grade should be given to all the members of the group working on the university project. The first group of people believe that it's a good way to make the students feel equal, thus all members of the group receiving the same mark is good. I do belong to the second group of people holding the opinion that giving them all the same grade is not a good way to evaluate students. My justifications are provided in this essay. Even though equality is considered a good way for the existence of peace and liberty, it can also create a bunch of problems and conflicts between the students, and sometimes lecturers too. It goes without saying that every team has members getting a “free-ride”. As a consequence, the final task is usually accomplished by one or two members from a group who will probably have complaints about such unfair things going on in the university. I am one of the students who is for real equality and I believe students should be evaluated for the efforts made by them. Therefore, I complain about this issue too and face some conflicts with my classmates. What's happened in my school is a good illustration to this. There were thirteen of us in the team, but only me and my friend were spending our time doing research for our project. On the presentation day all the team members got the same high-grade. Obviously, I told the lecturer because only my friend and I worked on the project, we expect her to correct the grades and reevaluate the other members of our team. As a result, I had a fight with the other team members and we stopped talking to each other. Another point worth considering is depression, that can occur when the student understands what their real knowledge and skills are. A good grade is one of the most important things nowadays since it can give the student a good diploma, and a job in the future. In the case if all the students have the same grades and similar diplomas, they all would seem to be a good match to be hired for the open profession. However, the students who got their marks only due to equality requirements will probably not be successful at their job and lose it soon. Consequently, they will fall into depression slowly realizing that they've been cheated by their university. A story about a man I was told demonstrates this concept. He used to get the best grades in high school. Thus, he was confident about himself, his knowledge and skills. A company saw his diploma with excellent grades, so when he graduated from the school, he was invited to work as a programmer there. Sadly, in a week both him and his seniors found out he doesn't know any practical thing about programming. Therefore, he was fired and very disappointed in himself. To sum up the above mentioned reasons and examples, giving every member of a group the same grade is a dangerous way to evaluate students. In view of the fact that it both creates conflicts between the students and makes the scammed students suffer in the future and experience depression.