"Here's the interdisciplinary project for the semester; you will have multiple areas to cover, with the due date being three weeks before the final exam. You certainly know that the interdisciplinary project I'm talking about here counts for several of your basic courses, but that I am responsible for this project. As for my course, it counts for 20% of the final grade. It will be done with three people; the schedule of presentations will be determined one week before the due date. The great theme of this project: professions. You must cover the history of a profession, major techniques of the profession of your choice, access to it, work conditions and finally the taxation of a typical early career professional. Also, you have until the end of the period to form your teams and agree on a topic" the French teacher announces them at the beginning of the lecture.
Ouch... free-loaders are quite common on interdisciplinary group projects and these free-loaders must often rely on their social status to get what they want. And so, a student's popularity, without necessarily being a key ingredient of its academic performance, might help. Especially when peer evaluations are part of the work. I know Dylan fairly well; he tries to benefit from his popularity as a star tight end to stay afloat academically in group projects, but people seem to tolerate his propensity to take advantage of his teammates, Geneviève thinks, while Dylan searches the classroom for a team with which to perform the work. In the meantime, she already has a teammate lined up.
"May I team up with you two for this?" Dylan asks.
"Let me make that clear, Dylan: if you want to team up with us, you will need to pull your weight. Maybe you could have gotten by with Marcia in the past, but with other teammates than I" Gen warns him.
"And we're not simply talking about an introduction or a conclusion: last time I teamed up with you, you were assigned these parts, but Geneviève hasn't been very clear about her expectations. She would like you to contribute to the main body so make your choice" Marcia issues an additional warning.
"This is unlike you, Marcia! Your usual friends didn't act like this!" Dylan protests, realizing something is amiss.
It is true that so many people at this level tend to simply divide the parts according to the strengths and weaknesses of each student. It might seem logical to some at first glance, but still...
But what is it that could push Dylan to take an Advanced Placement French course? Is it for reasons related to his friend circle or his life as a tight end, in which case he thinks he can play at this position in college? He got away scot-free for the past two and a half years to proceed like this, Geneviève continues to think while Marcia continues quarreling with Dylan, and Gen keeps her distance.
"The other students with whom I get along are already in a team" Dylan adds. "Marcia, you're the only one I trust that's still available!"
"I accept, but her usual friends are in another section. You team up with me, you will need to contribute to every step of the project. We will have regular meetings on it" Gen continues her warning.
"Before you talk about what these meetings will be about, or of when, we will need to agree on the topic, Gen" Marcia turns to Dylan. "I believe we stand a better chance to obtain a good grade for everyone if we talk about a profession whose entry and working conditions are well-documented"
Speaking of topics, the various teams that are constituted have already chosen their respective topics, and unsurprisingly they talk about law, medicine, accounting, engineering, to name only the first four topics in chronological order of selection... these being professions that the two girls would see such and such in the class practice in the long term. Not very original, but, after all, we are talking about students near the top of the school's academic pyramid. Of students that have a realistic shot at practicing these professions.
Nevertheless, since the section has 31 students, and that the teams are normally with 3 people, there would thus be a supernumerary student to assign.
"It appears that there is a team-less student; since you haven't officially confirmed your team, you will get the team-less student" the teacher orders the threesome.
"It was due to happen; my name is Shane. Even though I see that you don't get along very well, we have no choice"
"Maybe it will displease you, but what about investment banker? Granted, it's not the most interesting profession in the world, except that investment banking is a profession that attracts a lot of people attending Ivies or equivalent" Geneviève comments.
"It's not a secret: if there is anyone here that stands a chance for that kind of institutions, it's either you or Marcia. We would like a topic covering a profession that's more realistic to practice..." Dylan laments, feeling a little lost socially. "But what makes it so that others can get along and not us?"
"It saddens me but high school teaching. No one took the topic and yet I believe we can make do with it" Marcia adds more comments.
Of course, the choice of the topic is not the end of the story, the assignment of tasks must still be made. For as tempting as it might be to the eyes of the two boys that to have the two girls perform the bulk of the work, they know it will be an apple of discord. And so, even if, to the eyes of everyone in the eleventh-grade class at school, Geneviève is the student reference when it comes to mathematics.
"Obviously one must consider costs and debt load when one talks about access to a profession; given how often these student loan stories appear in media, and if we pick that topic, the various relief plans will matter..." Gen makes her considerations known.
"My God! It will make the project far too complex! We leave everything to do with money in this project to Geneviève, but we need another project in another profession!" Dylan complains.
"We don't have any time left to fight over this, Dylan; we must make do with what we have. On top of that, we want everyone to contribute to every step" Marcia keeps pushing her warnings.
"If you're here taking advanced placement courses, it's because attending college is a realistic goal. But you must still ensure it won't cost you too much! Remember the pre-calculus course, where the final exam contained a student loan question!" Gen harangues her teammates.
"Geneviève, that's enough! The fiscal portion is yours, but I would just like to do the introduction and the conclusion!" Dylan continues lamenting.
"Oh no Dylan, we will not resume this! Doing a good introduction and a good conclusion requires that we get familiar with the entirety of the project!" an angered Marcia starts screaming at Dylan.
Il y a quelque chose qui cloche, the teacher thinks while the final groups continues to fight each other over the details of the project, such as the breakdown of tasks, the expectations of each regarding the project as well as the topic. Of course, some students don't know what they want to do in life, but still... Geneviève, on the one hand, wanted to give an accurate picture of the required investment to practice the profession, on the other hand, the others wanted to stick to the essentials; the detailed instructions lacked clarity on this topic, but on the profession's history and the daily life of a professional, yes, he keeps thinking while he starts approaching the group, who is still wondering on which profession to execute the project. Objections, counter-objections are flying everywhere, and time is running short for every stakeholder. A conflict of visions that does not delay in poisoning the entire life of the group as it relates to this course. The only thing that seems to go well is the exchange of social media information if they didn't already have access to these.
"I think we no longer have a choice; you fought a lot on this project, we must impose on you your topic. You will work on high school teaching" Steven, the French teacher announces them.
"We're at the start of the semester, I believe it's good to do as much as possible for this project early in the semester" Shane advises the other three.
"But we will need to give our availabilities. A meeting this week is probably well-advised" Dylan asks his teammates.
"No Friday night for me this week; it's the first round of the Square Root of the Answer contest" Gen states her availabilities.
"I can't on Saturday morning either, I work..." Marcia adds.
The Square Root of the Answer contest, which is a contest of differential and integral calculus that is aimed to high school students, unlike the majority of other mathletic contests aimed at that level of students, which will cover at most material up to a pre-calculus level, such as the AMC12 and the AIME. For this reason, this competition is much more marginal than the AMC12 or the AIME, especially since the subsequent round will ask multi-variable questions.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"I won't be able to Saturday night..." Shane announces, while the other three roll their eyes awaiting a justification.
"Why?" Dylan asks Shane while turning to him.
"I have an appointment with my counselor. Dylan, are you available on Sunday?" Shane answers Dylan's question.
"Yes, why?" Dylan responds to him.
"It's the only day we have left" Shane answers his question.
Shane is already collaborating with a private counselor? My parents know absolutely nothing about college admissions since they never attended college. When I talk about this topic, they don't have the slightest idea of what this process represents, so Trent, the coach of the mathletics team, of which I am the captain, is the best resource I still have left, Geneviève thinks, visibly unsatisfied of her teammates and yet, take the same advanced placement courses as she is. She must be wondering, other than the hope of intellectual challenge, what she desires to obtain out of a stay in college, if she desires to attend one. Same goes of the other three teammates as well. Yet, she knows that, even though the material was similar from a college to another, with whom one is learning it can make a difference.
I can feel like it's going to end poorly, she thinks, while she starts preparing the accessibility of the profession aspect in her mind. With this project, everyone has an idea of what to expect by basing themselves on the fights at the start.
Nevertheless, come Sunday, in an attempt to distract herself of the bad memories of the topic selection session, Geneviève starts talking about the content of the first round of the Square Root of the Answer contest.
"How did the Square Root of the Answer contest go?" Marcia asks, while waiting for the coming of the others.
"The first round amounts to taking the AP Calculus BC Exam at this point of the year. Therefore, during the last semester, I had to double down to learn the rest of the course's material" Gen answers her friend.
"I am sure that you will make it to the next round, but I assume that you will not receive the result before a week or two" Marcia continues.
"What a strange competition! That contest looks nothing like the AMC, it's as if the organizers wanted to transform an AP Calculus BC Exam diagnostic test into a competition. The AIME is still in several weeks, I still have time, We'll probably be given some more information on the content of the second round of the Square Root of the Answer alongside our results" Gen
Ouch. The other teammates of circumstance have arrived, without having the slightest idea of what Geneviève and Marcia did beforehand. From the very beginning they realize that there is a world of difference between what people did and how they approached the group project.
"We'll start with the access to the profession. You all know that it takes a bachelor's degree in a teachable subject, I presume? It also take a hundred eighty hours of supervised internship within a one-year period, generally covered in a master's degree, at the end of which we take the state board tests" Marcia begins talking without Dylan or Shane understand anything to that.
"Speaking of master's degree, the average indebtment is approximately sixty thousand dollars at the start of the career; there are several early loan repayment plans, and most of them are aimed at teachers in low-income areas, or in critical needs subjects, such as science and mathematics. Not always obvious to navigate, but in all cases, you must make the loan payments, with certain special rules for early loan repayment. In general, if one teaches in the public education system, it is better to make use of the PSLF, more generous than the Teacher Loan Forgiveness, but also more restrictive, but the TLF also allows to teach in private schools, including but not limited to, charter schools. One must budget around seven hundred dollars per month to repay the average indebtment in ten years; it's a real financial cautionary tale" Gen lectures the other three on student loans.
"This is not what we agreed upon at all! Why do you want to get into the details of student loans so much?" Shane asks while the other three are on the defensive as to what they fear could happen.
"Horror stories are really happening in this profession: repeated verbal jousting and abuse, with the students as well as with the parents, violence, heavy bureaucracy..." Dylan claims, but does not suspect anything regarding student loans and the temptation of conflicts of interest.
"Before sweeping what I would have to say about student loans under the rug, there is, yes, some way to find employment, but it will be a little underpaid. Obviously, on an early career average salary, $700 per month is a pretty big hole in a budget, nearly a quarter of the income after tax withholdings" Gen continues with budgetary implications.
"Gen, you give me the impression that the forecasted budget will give us an advantage on the other teams in the class! What makes you think that these financial considerations will help us get an A on this project?" Shane asks while Marcia remains powerless over the dispute that starts anew.
"And then you will get into the details of each loan forgiveness plan as if it fits under the project's scope; I believe it's outside the scope" Dylan retorts.
"In all cases, it takes at least five years of work experience to be eligible, and certain loan forgiveness programs are specific to certain loans" Gen explains further.
On that point, Geneviève knows that she already lost her teammates when she talks about federal loan forgiveness. None of these loan forgiveness programs were concerned about private loans. Geneviève may very easily write several pages simply to differentiate all these student loans that she doesn't stop talking about! Dylan thinks, while he doesn't know anything about these loans other than people take them to study in college.
The TLF to which she referred only allows to forgive direct loans, while the PSLF, or Public Service Loan Forgiveness allows to get forgiveness for all federal loans, including indirect loans (they are officially called PLUS loans, and, for borrowers having taken them out prior to 2017, Perkins loans are also called indirect in this context).
"But still! You don't realize that the teacher chose this theme for a reason! He just doesn't want us to choose our future careers lightly: a bad career choice can be difficult to correct, especially when the career which, initially, could have appeared gratifying to practice, becomes a burden" Marcia explains.
"Hence the reason of taxation early in one's career. More than taxation, budget is what will make the big difference... and excessive indebtment can prove to be a barrier to entry: you might have the required grades in your teachable subject, if you have too much debt from you undergrad, you may have to delay your career for this reason. Or endure horrible work conditions to just be able to start practicing your profession" Gen keeps talking about personal finances.
"That we don't know what we would want to do, I am willing to accept, I am well aware that there is little chance that I will play in college. We are not all like you" Dylan adds. "During the oral presentation, I hope that you will not transform your part into a presentation of student loans! he screams, exasperated of everything to do with debt"
"Despite all our fights, I must admit that we are well on our way on the skeleton of two of the five parts of the project, and in a single week. That said, suppose that, before the Industrial Revolution, education was not as organized as it is today, at least in the West, and, for Christians, we start from the principle that, if we know the material, we could teach it. Nonetheless, teaching and knowledge weren't valued very much so long as the technical environment of the labor market didn't demand it, or the economic environment did not allow for it either, especially not at the start of the colonial era" Marcia talks about her part.
"Finally, some way to not have to hear Geneviève talk about her student loans!" Shane sighs, exasperated of hearing about student loans.
The student loans make way to economic history; in colonial times, schoolteachers often had to work a second job, often innkeepers, choristers or gravediggers, simply to be able to live in rural communities. The only two things that have really changed regarding working conditions, to the eyes of the group, are the bureaucracy and the technological tools, but the attitude of the students and of the public towards the teaching profession came back to square one.
"Under what angle would you prefer to talk about the history of the profession? Other than the societal aspect, because we already talked about it" Marcia asks.
"The societal aspect is fine and dandy, but we all win if we tie together the other four aspects of the project. Religion being a sensitive topic, I think it's good to limit any religious content to what's strictly necessary" Gen makes her suggestion.
"What do you have to suggest then?" Dylan asks Geneviève, fearing her reaction.
"The simplest would be the evolution of working conditions given the content of our sources on the societal aspect, but also the evolution of the day-to-day work. But if we want to do so thoroughly, while the risk is real to go overboard, we should include the history of what we already covered, and, since the history of the access to the profession is linked to that of the access to higher education, the evolution of student indebtedness is relevant, although the Cold War changed the financial aid deal" Gen continues on her suggestion.
"And she comes back to her student loan stuff! Maybe it would be a better idea to talk about the history of teacher unions since the unions are integral to the history of work conditions!" Shane comments, his blood boiling.
"It's still funny: we should also link the budgetary history and we will definitely go over the limit if we actually want to cover everything! The ideas are good, but we need to double-check if we are entitled to appendices, I believe we cannot go forward unless we agree on the project's scope!" Marcia comments.
"We don't even have the slightest idea of whether the teacher prefers more depth on one specific aspect of the topic or cover everything while remaining shallow" Shane comments, seeing the faces of the other three turn red.
"I knew it was a big mistake doing it with Marcia; because of her, I am forced to commit to a project that makes me squirm! But I think it would be boring for the others to talk about how unions and the increase in unionized workers' indebtedness could have affected their work conditions! You start sounding as if we were studying industrial relations!" Dylan shouts repeatedly and slamming the door later.
"Your obsession for grades will lead us to ruin! You want us to cover this and that, while we know that the first three weeks of April will be dedicated to the oral presentations on these projects! Better prepared a written report based on what we will have to cover orally! Better luck next time!" Shane continues to howl in front of the two girls.
Big nightmare... and yet they seemed pretty advanced for a single week of work. Despite this, they still find a way to fight over it by pretexting it would get out of the scope with all the topics they wish to cover in this project. Dylan is used to write introductions and conclusions, and the frustration probably comes from the newfound demands of his new circumstantial teammates. But was Shane someone else used to write introductions and conclusions? Regardless, both prematurely ended this meeting; they feel like they were going nowhere.