Our class was a perfect chaos. Everyone had their own opinions. Yet, somehow, we managed to come to a final decision. I don’t think everyone was perfectly satisfied with our final list though…
It was the "limited-time" parameter that made most of us accommodate to the list at hand, myself included. I doubt anyone who didn’t like the list, would have said so at the very end and run the risk of breaking unanimity and thus, scrap a whole class’ worth of effort. That, I think, is one approach all of us shared in that classroom.
Personally, I was going for “Compete to win” over the removal of essay. But as soon as I realized how daunting the task of convincing everyone was, I soon slipped into avoidance. By the mid-way point of class, I was already repeating glances at the clock and thinking about the pleasures of a certain intoxicating beverage. In my mind: “This is not going to happen…”
Although I gave up on my point, I did not give up on the task at hand. I tried suggesting alternatives and helped in ways I saw best-fit. Though, I was careful not to do too much of what I saw best-fit as my definition of “best-fit” at that moment was heavily biased towards the singularity of the removal of the essay.
Hindsight being 20-20, the quickest way to tackle our problem would probably have come from us breaking down into smaller groups, addressing similar opinions and barter out a list that would suit everyone’s needs. I am sure that ordeal would still be just as chaotic as the actual approach we took in class; however, it would reduce conflicts between classmates. If we had predetermined a time when we would deal with conflicts in an orderly fashion, the emotional impact of the conflicts would have been significantly lower and thus, would allow for quicker compromise or accommodation, which in turn would allow for a quicker decision.
This method would have been more efficient for our case. It would also have been very methodical, boring and easy to forget… I like our actual approach better; at least, the chaos of it all has sealed different concepts of decision making in my mind. Now, just have to make sure the seal doesn’t break before the next exam.
Thank you for your time.
