In my line of work, everything is group work. (I'm a software engineer) Someone works the back end, business logic, someone creates frameworks to build stuff on, there is a tester, and a person who designs and/or develops the user interface. Then there is the project manager who decides what parts of each project gets done when. There is a big push in my field to build things in a manner that NO ONE is waiting on someone to finish before they can start their part of the project. Are there still dependencies? Yes, but not as many as you would think. So yes, working in a group is a big part of some people's jobs.
What about drywallers? If the group isn't working as a team how would they ever get the giant pieces of drywall on the ceiling? Or chef's in a nice restaurant? Obviously your entire meal is not made by one person. One person makes sauces, one person makes the side dishes and another cooks the entree. It's a team effort that comes together on a plate.
Beside that, group projects help a person to see what roles they naturally fill. Are you a leader? Do you prefer to remain behind the scenes? Or are you *that* guy that convinces everyone else to do the work and then takes the credit? Yes, even in real life that happens all the time. And the people who did the work and didn't get the credit need to learn to deal with that in a professional manner. (Granted, little kids probably don't need to deal with that so early on.) But if one of your co-workers isn't pulling their load, you probably need to know how to handle it... and in different environments. In one work situation it might be perfectly acceptable to call the slacker out to his/her boss, in another, it might be a better idea to keep your mouth shut so you don't end up being accused of not being a team player. I've been in both situations, and it's not a fun lesson to learn on the job.
I never said there weren't jobs that require group work but I stand by the fact that MOST do not require you to work the way a school does in a group project.
In school, kids are generally required to do all the leg work to get the group off the ground. They determine when they will meet, what project they will work on, and who will do what on the project. It is up to them to follow up and make sure everyone is on track. In school group projects, if a kid doesn't show up, oh well. If a kid only does half of his task, too bad. 99% of the time, nothing is done to the slackers. As a matter of fact, the slacker is generally rewarded with the same grade as the rest of the group.
In the work place, if you act like some of the kids do in school, you would be fired. You are hired to do a specific job. You don't sit around and decide what you will do. If you are a sous chef, you don't get to come into work and announce that you plan on being the pastry chef that day. If you do drywall, you don't get to tackle trim because you are bored.
Unlike school, where most groups meet after hours, there is almost always a boss on duty that supervises in the workplace. When one drywaller is not helping, they fire him right there on the spot. If the meal at the nice restaurant isn't being made in the correct amount of time, people lose their job. Nobody loses their job in a school group project.
My DH is a project manager for 250 people. He got the job based on his qualifications. The group didn't raise their hands and nominate him as the person in charge. His job, among other things, is to make sure the group is functioning as a whole. He needs to make sure they stay on task. If they aren't, he has steps he takes to get them back on track or else they are fired. Little 10 year old Johnny that was put in charge of the school group project doesn't have those skills yet. When he tells people to focus, they tend to laugh at him.
The workplace group is night and day compared to the school group and the school group project is teaching very little real skills to survive in the workplace.
) He just sits there and watches everyone else do the work. She has learned to take charge though and be the group or pair leader, so I guess that is her positive from it.
