“It’s a device. A tool. Groups of first-year students that get together a couple times a week. Review the class work, the casebooks. They make outlines and then share them. It helps at exam time. You interested?” (Paul & Thompson & Bridges, 1973, scene 2). On the surface study groups may seem to be an effective strategy for enhancing learning, but they can actually lead students to encounter more problems than solutions in the long run. These problems can vary from fairly small to very serious, which is seen throughout the 1973 film directed by James Bridges, The Paper Chase. This film provided the gold standard of awful study groups with bickering, backstabbing, and withholding study aids. From the very first meeting, it was bound for failure
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Since the film included brilliant and intelligent characters in the study group, everyone had their own individual talents and unique insights. As a result, this created difficulties among these intellectuals and caused more group arguments than agreements in their discussions. For example, at the group’s very first meeting, Bell and O’Connor argued about who should do the property outline. Both of them thought they would do better in that particular course. “Forget it shorty,” declared Bell. Since Bell is an arrogant, pompous character, he gets the property outline. As the film goes on, tensions continue to rise, as the group’s arguments become a regular thing. At the group’s second meeting over the Statue of Frauds, Ford and Brooks get in an argument after Brooks announced, “I’m not ready yet.” In which Ford responds, “Kevin we can’t wait for you. If you don’t like things, leave. We can get along very well without your outline. I don’t know how well you’re gonna do without ours”. This argument created more tension as Ford wanted to keep moving with the group discussion, and Kevin was in desperate need of his group members’ outlines in order to pass his classes. This tension continued to build, as well as others in the group, which led into further arguments that continued hindering group members down the
Since the film included brilliant and intelligent characters in the study group, everyone had their own individual talents and unique insights. As a result, this created difficulties among these intellectuals and caused more group arguments than agreements in their discussions. For example, at the group’s very first meeting, Bell and O’Connor argued about who should do the property outline. Both of them thought they would do better in that particular course. “Forget it shorty,” declared Bell. Since Bell is an arrogant, pompous character, he gets the property outline. As the film goes on, tensions continue to rise, as the group’s arguments become a regular thing. At the group’s second meeting over the Statue of Frauds, Ford and Brooks get in an argument after Brooks announced, “I’m not ready yet.” In which Ford responds, “Kevin we can’t wait for you. If you don’t like things, leave. We can get along very well without your outline. I don’t know how well you’re gonna do without ours”. This argument created more tension as Ford wanted to keep moving with the group discussion, and Kevin was in desperate need of his group members’ outlines in order to pass his classes. This tension continued to build, as well as others in the group, which led into further arguments that continued hindering group members down the