There is a classmate who is probably the person with the lowest grades and most likely to drop out of the program by the end of this semester. She's not a slacker by any means. Unlike me who reads/briefly annotates everything one time through and gets the material, she canvases her manual/printouts/text with different colored highlighters and sticky notes.
She asked me if I could review with her for both of the written finals we share on the 5th (the Friday before finals papers/exams/presentations are dealt with).
Now hold up.
Before I said anything to her, that Friday is the day I promised to study with another group of classmates for the same exact set of tests. Problem is, I can't just include her in that study group because of personal dramas between her and several people. It's humorously similar to what you would read in Mishelle's blog; instead of drama arising from just not hanging out with people, drama breeds from ignoring scheduled study groups. It's almost like breaking breaking a blood contract.
If I flake out, chances are I won't be in their study group for the rest of the program. The thing is, I need that study group in order to learn everything proper because I learn through teaching and preparation. If I'm not able to teach/tutor someone else the material, then there's no way in hell I know it to begin with. The actual process of talking in a Socratic-seminar style is my best way of learning.
So this woman is at the point of begging me. She's on the brink of tears pleading for help. I basically zone out at that point to make a Pro and Con's list in my head before saying anything else. I sorted them out
PROS
- If she passes with my help, her future test scores would shift the curve and make my grades higher.
- Boosting my own ego by abiding to my identity. Helping as many people succeed is my personal maxim along with Understanding is contradiction.
- She will owe me.
CONS
- Excommunicated from the study group that follows my level of comprehension and speed. This study group proved to increase my grades rather than studying alone.
- Time with her would result in babying her; minimal intelligent discussions, mostly spoon feeding.
- She's not exactly attractive in appearance or personality.
- I would lose motivation to learn if I'm bored and unchallenged.
- I don't think I can help her study if she did read everything, but severely lacks retention. Issues like that should be presented to the professors, not me.
- I'm not all that energized to help her to begin with.
She stopped sniveling and I said my answer.
Sure.
It's not that picking between her over the study group was the bad decision. It's putting myself in a position where I'm forced to make a hard decision later on is what makes me terrible. I gave her my word, but I can easily change it. I could very well flake out on her if I wanted to, but at the same time, I don't want to flake out on anyone. If I went by the PROS/CONS list I should outright rejected her plea and force her to confront the professors instead. But I didn't even though the CONS list was more numerous AND heavier than the PROS. That would have been the smart way to go.
tl:dr
What are some example of "bad" decision-making?
Is a person considered bad for consciously picking the worse of the two choices?
What compels someone to avoid the better of the two choices?