By: Ishrak Ramzan
Throughout high school and education at large, group work is frequently employed as a means of completing assignments. With this comes the lamentations of students everywhere, arguing that group work is inherently unfair and ineffective, that it continually rewards indolence. While there is some merit to these arguments, there are several benefits to experiencing group work.
The old adage that “two heads are better than one,” is true in many scenarios, and several are even better than two. Working collaboratively to solve a problem means individuals’ different perspectives and ideas can be combined. Ultimately, that can only benefit the group, as they will accordingly be more productive and better able to complete the task at hand.
At the same time as good ideas are brought together, working with others allows subpar ideas to be filtered out of the discussion, as people bounce ideas off of each other. When one person attacks a problem alone, he may fixate on one particular approach that is ill-suited for the task at hand. However, receiving feedback from others allows one to see the problem from a new angle that lets him address it more successfully.
Fostering of important communication skills is another positive to experiencing group work. Conflict is likely to occur at some point, stemming from the unique opinions or viewpoints of different people. Conflict forces people to resolve the issues at hand for the sake of the project. As this occurs, one’s ability to discuss and weigh the merits of opposing ideas develops. Plus, simply having to discuss different aspects of a task with one’s team members helps to hone one’s communication abilities.
Another benefit to having to experience group work in high school is the fact that much of what one will do in the workplace will involve other people. Opponents of group work may argue that a group may have individuals who hinder the group effort, such as slackers that hinder productivity, or overbearing people who tyrannically commandeer the entire project. While this is true in some instances, being forced to deal with such circumstances prepares individuals for group projects in the workplace as well. It is simply improbable that everyone assigned to a project at work will be perfect, and experiencing similar inconsistency in school prepares oneself for these circumstances.