As the year comes to a close, group projects are starting to pop off more than ever in Mills High School, but there’s something that students seem to be noticing. The teachers are keeping a close eye on the students. Some are even taking students out of the classroom and interrogating them – well, mostly asking questions, but why are they doing this? Well, Nyla’Ri (11) would like to share her experience, as she states, “My teacher pulled me to the side and started interviewing me, and I saw her write down stuff. I’m not sure what it was, but she seemed very anxious.”
Nyla’Ri is not alone. Multiple students have reported similar experiences, describing what experts are now calling “Post-Collaborative Debriefing Sessions” (PCDS). During these sessions, teachers allegedly ask highly specific and slightly suspicious questions such as, “Who actually did the work?”, “When did communication break down?” and the chilling, “Be honest – did anyone open the document before last night?”
At lunch, a group of seniors noticed two teachers whispering over a shared spreadsheet, occasionally glancing up at students and nodding. The spreadsheet was quickly minimized when approached. As Brenda Chavez (12), one of the seniors involved, states, “I mean, it was weird: why did they hide it? And they kept trying to change the conversation. I think the teachers are hiding something.“ It’s been seen multiple times: the group projects, the whispering, the writing and interviewing students. This is a government experiment and the teachers are in on it. Teachers often miss days for “professional development“, but what if they actually gather to discuss their results with their government intel? It would make sense as to why group projects seem suspicious and random as Nyla’ri says, “It’s really something based on luck, you’ll either get your friends or people you have never spoken to in your life.”
She adds, “But that one time that you have a bad day [and] you just have to get the person that doesn’t do anything nor [adds] anything to the team – it could be the easiest job yet they’re just on their computer playing games. So no, I don’t think I like group projects because they feel like an experiment.“ That feeling of being watched and being interviewed awkwardly by teachers comes to a conclusion: This is a government experiment and all the teachers are in on it.
Considering the fact that everyone might’ve had similar experiences at Mills, it’s an event that everyone experiences in different settings to prepare them for the real world. To recap, group projects are social experiments: a government conspiracy that might just turn out to be true.
