- #1
Drokrath
- 7
- 1
I'm currently taking a sophomore-level circuits/electronics lab. My lab partner just transferred from out of state in January, and is already probably in the top three in our class in general. He does very well in the two classes I share with him and seems to have fantastic discipline. The course isn't particularly challenging, I have a high A currently.
The problem is that he has much higher standards and is much more capable than I am. I could deal with this earlier in the semester when we were doing labs and writing separate reports. He could write his own detailed and extensive report, and I would write my own. The problem arose recently, as we began doing weekly "projects", where we have to write a joint report together.
I do my best to contribute and write sections of the report, but for the past three weeks he has gone back later and re-written all of the sections I wrote. I can't really argue with this, because his writing is simply just better than what I can do. I don't think my ability is below average for the class, though it's difficult to tell as I've only had him as a partner. I think he just has higher standards than the rest of the class does. He also comes to our meetings/class with the reports outlined and half-written. Last week, we were about halfway through writing the report, and he told me I could just go ahead and leave and he would finish up the rest.
I feel no ownership of the work that is being done, and I feel like an incompetent idiot when trying to collaborate with him. He's usually polite about it, and never demeans me or anything. I can just tell that he doesn't think my work is good enough to turn in under his name (even if my name is on it as well). I also can't warrant spending a ton of extra time being a perfectionist about this class that I have an almost guaranteed A in when I am taking other classes where I'm in danger of dropping to a C, and could be studying for those.
I'm not really sure what I'm looking for here, just a place to vent or get advice I suppose. I'm just not really sure what to do and i feel utterly useless. I've talked to my girlfriend about it and she's of the opinion that it's his problem if he wants to be a perfectionist, but this doesn't make me feel any better about myself.
The problem is that he has much higher standards and is much more capable than I am. I could deal with this earlier in the semester when we were doing labs and writing separate reports. He could write his own detailed and extensive report, and I would write my own. The problem arose recently, as we began doing weekly "projects", where we have to write a joint report together.
I do my best to contribute and write sections of the report, but for the past three weeks he has gone back later and re-written all of the sections I wrote. I can't really argue with this, because his writing is simply just better than what I can do. I don't think my ability is below average for the class, though it's difficult to tell as I've only had him as a partner. I think he just has higher standards than the rest of the class does. He also comes to our meetings/class with the reports outlined and half-written. Last week, we were about halfway through writing the report, and he told me I could just go ahead and leave and he would finish up the rest.
I feel no ownership of the work that is being done, and I feel like an incompetent idiot when trying to collaborate with him. He's usually polite about it, and never demeans me or anything. I can just tell that he doesn't think my work is good enough to turn in under his name (even if my name is on it as well). I also can't warrant spending a ton of extra time being a perfectionist about this class that I have an almost guaranteed A in when I am taking other classes where I'm in danger of dropping to a C, and could be studying for those.
I'm not really sure what I'm looking for here, just a place to vent or get advice I suppose. I'm just not really sure what to do and i feel utterly useless. I've talked to my girlfriend about it and she's of the opinion that it's his problem if he wants to be a perfectionist, but this doesn't make me feel any better about myself.
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