Give and Take

I'm usually on the receiving end of racial and gender stereotypes. It's always "take, take, take" and that's how it has always been. However, I had a unique opportunity to give back other day.

I was sitting in the large auditorium. I had been assigned a specific seat and those nearest to me would define my group for that day. In accounting 210, we assigned groups and have group quizzes in class (unnatural cut-throat selection I call it). Anyway, I was really early as usual and I was the only one in my group so far. I saw the other groups forming slowly. As I watched other teams form I pondered the optimal mix for my group of 6:

4 would be boys (two would have glasses, one of them would have a fancy calculator, at least one would be Asian).
2 would be girls (me, and another girl who was an accounting major, preferably a brunette).

We would dominate, I thought. The first person to meet me at our group seating was an Asian girl with long hair and glasses. Things were looking good. I could almost taste her near-perfect ACT score. Second, was a fair-haired (blond), "sweet" (naive) girl. Not so good. As long as the next 3 group members were boys who fit the criteria we would still be okay. Finally, 1 more boy showed up. A business and mathematical mind I thought. Perfect. The other 2 were no-shows.

Class began and as we delved deeper and deeper into our quiz I was shocked. Asian girl assured us that the wrong answers were right. Math boy had a calculator (looked like an obsolete Casio to me) but hardly gave input and just mooched of us girls' answers! The blond girl, out of all the people in our group, knew all the right answers and knew how to articulate them well! She even made a comment in class! Can you believe it!?

At the end of class of class I had "mixed" feelings. I was disappointed in myself but I was happy because we did great on our quiz!