AITA: Only putting my name on my groups assignment since they did not contribute.

A high school senior shares their experience with a group assignment where they ended up doing all the work after their group ignored the task. When the student submitted the assignment with only their name on it, their group members became upset, accusing them of “hogging” the paper.

Was the student justified in taking credit for their solo effort, or should they have included their unhelpful group members’ names? Read the full story below.

‘ AITA: Only putting my name on my groups assignment since they did not contribute.’

I am a High School Senior. For first period i have English 4, we all had to do a group assignment and it was a group discussion and after the discussion we had to answer the 5-6 questions the teacher gave us. After 15 minutes, (after the teacher handed us the assignment) the group did not do anything, not even touch the paper.

There are two guys and one girl. The two guys were on their phone playing video games while the girl was just scrolling on social media. So i decided to take responsibility in taking the paper and doing the work. Mind you, I tried to make them contribute by asking them questions, but they weren’t answering me.

After 20 Minutes, I finished the questions and had the paper near me, i put my name and claimed to be finished, but the group expected me to put their names as well when they did NOT help me at all. They left the work to me, but expected me to put their names on it since we are a group.

Today, I walked in class and it seems like they’re all ignoring me, apparently one of the guys told me that it was my fault that they didn’t contribute and that all i do is h** the paper, but the paper was in front of the guys for 15 minutes. I keep thinking, but i don’t know, Am I Really The A**hole???

Here’s how people reacted to the post:

Edymnion −  NTA, they don’t get to be upset at not getting credit for work they didn’t do.

One-Warthog3063 −  NTA.. Former HS teacher here. You should have informed the teacher at the end of the period or when you turned in the paper. Explain the situation and leave it to the teacher to resolve. It’s not your job to motivate your classmates.

It’s also not the teacher’s job to motivate them, especially when they’re Seniors or even Juniors. The teacher’s job is to assign a grade based upon the work submitted. Sit elsewhere or ask to be moved if there’s assigned seats. Ask to not be put in a group with those same students again. Beyond that, there’s nothing else you can or should do.

Malibu_Cola −  NTA. They didn’t do the work, they don’t deserve the credit.

IamIrene −  NTA. They tried to get a free grade out of your work. They fafo, they got exactly what they put in…which was nothing, lol.

dryadduinath −  NTA. If they wanted their names on it, and they feel they did the work, why didn’t they put their names on it themselves?
They’re just lazy, rude, and entitled. 

Real_Ad2212 −  I’m a teacher using team based learning, so this is a common issue. The person in the wrong here is the teacher for failing to oversee your work and for failing to have a rubric where students anonymously rate each other’s contribution to the final work.

NTA. Please keep doing the right thing and no enabling lazy people to steal from others. Also, please tell the teacher about the failure of his/her system to properly reward contribution and properly punish theft.

leatherfacevictim −  Sorry for the grammar mistakes!!

Bunny_Bixler99 −  I know the state of modern education sucks but why does this “shared group school project where only one person does all the work” keep popping up? 😆 

CPSue −  NTA, and be sure to let the teacher know why their names aren’t on the assignment. They don’t get credit if they didn’t do the work.

Jaded-Permission-324 −  NTA. They don’t get to claim any credit for the work you did.

Do you think the student was right to take sole credit for the work, or should group accountability mean everyone gets their name on the assignment regardless of participation? How would you handle an uncooperative group in a similar situation? Share your thoughts in the comments!