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What Grinds Our Gears: Breakout rooms are the worst way to learn

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Why do I pay over $500 to take a class where I learn from my peers instead of a professor?

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Nothing ever happens in these grey-box-laden sessions anyway. IMAGE: Victor Tran / The Peak

by Marco Ovies, Editor-in-Chief 

Full disclosure: I think group work and discussions are the biggest waste of time. 

Breakout rooms are especially the worst. I thought that after a semester or two of online trials professors would have started to realize that. But nope, here I am being forced into a group of complete strangers to discuss a book none of us have even read, in a time period none of us have ever studied. Why am I paying premium prices for this nonsense when instead I can just go to GradeSaver or SparkNotes and get a more in-depth summary for absolutely free? 

Breakout rooms are a scam used by professors who are trying to fill up time because they don’t have enough content to lecture on. If there is less lecture content, let us out early so I can complete the 100 pages of readings that you need me to complete by next week. There are so many more productive things I could be doing instead than trying to start a conversation with three grey boxes on my screen. 

We are literally in a pandemic. Please professor, if you are reading this, throw me a bone. End break out rooms before I breakdown.

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Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

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For promotional inquiries: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

For advertising inquiries: [email protected]
For promotional inquiries: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society