It was a terrible pair programming environment. Pair programming was simply being used to up the average grade of the class (which succeeded). I disagree with

It was a terrible pair programming environment. Pair programming was simply being used to up the average grade of the class (which succeeded). I disagree with saying that constantly distributing knowledge by always pairing is a better situation. It makes the assumption that everything that can be known about a system is already known, which doesn't often (ever?) hold true. By separating out, you can cover far more area and find more of those unknowns, while coming together for regular pair sessions helps spread that newly discovered information around.