Group Projects... grrrrr

I happen to REALLY dislike group projects in which the teacher chooses your group members. Mostly because I've never ever been in a group where someone besides me does any of the work! This time is no different. For nutrition we're doing a research project on different issues according to what group you're in. My group is doing Weight Issues/Energy Metabolism with vitamin B somewhere in there. It wouldn't be so hard except that we must get all of our research materials from scientific journals (which are next to impossible to understand), and they have to be studies of large numbers of people. Why doesn't Sarah just shoot me now and end my misery? I don't mind group projects when you can pick your group. That way you know if your group members are going to actually do any work so if they don't you dig your own grave. Unfortunately teachers have never seen it that way. They have extreme tunnel vision because all they see is that you'll meet/interact with classmates you otherwise wouldn't. But as a precaution they tell you that you get to grade your group members at the end. How 'bout in the mean time when I'm doing all the work?! Bet they never thought of that! It's like they blocked out their own group project experiences. (I refuse to believe that they all had great experiences because it's Murphy's Law that that'll never happen.) To top it off we have to write abstracts & summaries on the studies we find and then present it infront of the class. . . I HATE talking infront of groups of people!