Okay, seriously, how many people?

I’m kinda dreading my Economics class coming up later this evening. It’s not that the subject is boring (although it can be at times)—the problem is the instructor. I assume he has certain things he wants to discuss since there’s a slideshow covering that week’s reading assignment, but if that’s the case, I better keep doing the reading because we don’t come close to finishing the slideshow during class.

We started last week by discussing group projects. We’re all being put into groups of five or six people to write a paper and make a presentation to the class, which is no big deal. It became a big deal when the instructor asked the class, “What’s the optimal size of a group?” People were piping up with numbers like four and five; some developed a plan based on which jobs needed to be done for a project; I almost told him to use a dartboard.

No one was giving him the answer he wanted, so the discussion went on for fifteen minutes until he finally told us that you determine the optimal size of the group by weighing the costs of adding another person versus the benefits. When those numbers become equal, that’s the best size. In other words, he was asking for numbers, then gave us an economic concept as the answer.

Is five or six a good size for a group? Yes.

Is it the optimal size? Maybe.

Is there an objective way to measure costs and benefits to determine this? No.

Why didn’t he give us the answer he wanted about costs and benefits right away instead of wasting the first fifteen minutes of class last week? I don’t know, but if he was in my group, I think kicking his ass after that would have been a major benefit.