issue 26// vol 47

 

Groups go away

» Collaborative assignments in
post-secondary are never equal or fair

Craig Allan
Business Manager

 

ere is an experience that I think

many can relate to: it’s the first day of
classes, you get the syllabus, scan through
it to see what you have to do, maybe plan
out a schedule of how you will tackle it only
to see the most dreaded of sights—this
class contains a group project. Now your
entire schedule will be at the whims of
whatever person, or people, you get paired
up with. Why is this though? Why do we
still have to do group presentations when
they can be the most annoying part of a
class, and in most cases not even worth a
lot of marks?

I have many stories of bad group
assignments. I have had to miss time
at work, fall behind on school work,
and badger people in my groups to
communicate with me only to find out on
presentation day (because it is always a
presentation) that they have done nothing,
done the bare minimum, or have done
work that covers stuff I have already done
and said I would do, but they didn’t know
that because they weren't checking their
emails.

One such story happened a few years
ago. I was just coming back to school and
I was a bit shy. Because of this, I] ended up
getting paired with the slacker students of
the class. These people are what I called

The head of the game

the “Bank of Mommy and Daddy” kids;
the students who didn’t have any idea
what they wanted to do and were likely
subsidized by their parents through school,
possibly over getting a job. After trying

to get their contact information during
the initial group meet up, to which one of
the girls responded “You really want that
contact information!” I decided to give
them my contact information and just
have them get back to me later since they
did not want to give it up. Days went by
and they didn’t send me anything, they
wouldn’ talk to me in the class, and then
finally the day before the presentation

day they contacted me asking if I wanted
to meet up two hours before the class to
go over the presentation, which they all
did without me. During the presentation
they kept throwing to me to talk about
something, only for me not to know what
was going on because the work I did didn't
line up with theirs. Luckily before class I
went to the teacher and threw them under
the bus for not including me and got the
presentation excluded from my grade, but
it was quite frustrating and an example of
how bad presentation groups can be.

I have other stories similar to this.
Whether it’s a person not doing their
portion of the presentation, a group forcing
you to sign up for different apps you don’t
want to sign up for to keep in touch, or
someone not getting back to you for so

long you start to think they have dropped
out of the class—I think I have heard it all.
Tam just lucky that I have never been ina
situation where the group presentation has
been for a substantial amount of the overall
mark.

I know if you ask the school, they will
probably say that group projects are to
teach you how to work in a collaborative
setting, or that they build good team-work
skills, and maybe they do in an ideal world,
but that just doesn’t happen. When I am
going to school and spending thousands of
dollars to do so I do not want the decision
of whether I pass or not being put in the
hands of someone who does not have the
same motivation as me.

Sometimes (though not a lot of
the time) the difficulties of a group

>» Rap music has done for sex what no other genre could

Matthew Fraser
Opinions Editor

 

here has been much hoopla and taboo

regarding sex and music. Whether
from the artist formerly known as Prince’s
BDSM anthem “Darling Nikki,’ to
Madonna and Britney Spears sharing a kiss
on stage—music has used sex to shock. But
as I think about the history of music’s sex
controversy, I’m reminded of exactly how
much rap music has blazed a trail for the
rest of culture to follow.

The 1990’s are oft called the “Golden
Age’ of rap. This was the era in which
Tupac, Biggie, Snoop Dogg, and OutKast
all emerged into the wide world of music.
The illustrious list of rap royalty that would
emerge from that era could be a book all on
its own, but uncontested amongst the great
rappers of the era is one who redefined
female sexuality in music over just one
album. Lil’ Kim’s 1996 Hardcore gives all
that one needs know about the contents on
the packaging and the lyrics leaves nothing
unknown. The intro begins with a man
masturbating to Lil’ Kim before she pivots
into the first official song and compares
herself to two porn stars of the time. This
same song might officially be the first time
a woman openly put anal sex in music—
maybe the first time anyone of any gender
did it so openly. In fact, her entire debut
is a tour de force of sexuality narrated by a

women hell bent on proving that misogyny
isn't the only way to talk about sex. It is

not an understatement to say that

Lil’ Kim kicked down the

door for any and

every woman
thereafter
torap so

openly
(and with
great detail)
of their sex lives.

Though Foxy Brown
certainly played her part, the
Queen Bee was Lil’ Kim.

Although lady rappers like Cardi
B and Nicki Minaj have commanded
the air waves and imaginations
while filling others with
consternation, a
new generation
of female
rappers
have

Illustration by Athena Little

taken
Tapping
about sex
in ina different
direction. Young
M.A. may have gained the
most critical mainstream reception of
any lesbian rapper thus far and her hard

opinions // no. 21

  

Photo by Billy Bui

presentation isn’t even anyone’s fault.
People have jobs, other classes, and
responsibilities. We don't have time to
always get together with someone to do
an assignment. If someone is working two
jobs, has children, and is working hard to
tend to them while also going to school,

I wouldn't want them to have to devote
time to work around my schedule and
multiple other people just to make a group
presentation work.

It’s time we get rid of the group
project as an assignment. They are not
fair to everyone, hard to work around, and
offer very little in terms of educational
value. Let’s leave group activities for the
important stuff: pub crawls, all night
parties, and sex (after the pandemic of
course).

work earned her a place on the Forbes 2018
30 under 30 list. (Granted, other openly
lesbian musicians have earned widespread
fame through their work, but to do it

ina genre that has been so historically
misogynistic and homophobic I think is a
feat onto itself.) Plus, she has opened the
door for other lesbian rappers like OMB
Bloodbath to shine. This is a place where
rap music has set itself apart and above
other genres of music; after 2 Live Crew, rap
has always been comfortable with graphic
depictions of promiscuity and arousal.
Therefore, it has been far more able than
other genres to depict the lives and lusts of
the LGBTQ community.

Though it took awhile to get here, I
would argue rap music is the vanguard of
LGBTQ musical representation. With rap
icons like Big Freedia exploring gender
pronouns and Tyler, the Creator speaking
to the boys he’s loved, rap music has done
daringly what pop music has tried on the
sly.

Ina 2005 interview, then up and
coming rapper Kanye West spoke out
against homophobia at a time when
homophobia was rampant in rap. Gay
marriage wasn't even legal at that time and
was not seen as likely to happen by most
people in the political arena. Whether or
not you like sexuality intertwined with pop
culture, rap music has been at the head of
blending the two.