Groupwork..yay or nay

In my personal experience groupwork has both its benefits as well as its drawbacks. I have divided the benefits and drawbacks into a list of pros and cons and therefore determined what I personally think of groupwork and if it benefits students or if it hold students back from there full potentions.

First the pros:
- Encourages students to interact with others, and therefore learn how to respect others opinions as well as stand up for his or her own
-When different minds tackle the same project or discussion the outcome can be very beneficial as ideas may not have been thought of if the individual was to tackle the project on his or her own
-Allows the teacher more time to mark each project and really evaluate all the aspects of the project. It would be alot easier to mark 6 projects instead of 18, can take time on each project.
-Creates room for student interaction. Allows students to see a new perspective, one he or she may have never thought of.
-Students who do not like talking in front of a large group of people (aka the whole class) may find comfort in small groups and may discuss ideas that would have never been discussed without the placement into a small group
Now the cons:
-Students may ride the coat tails of the group and recieve the same mark as the people that really spoke up.
-If group is made up of students that are inverted the discussion may lead nowhere and therefore no new ideas may be thought up
-If the group is made up of extroverts there may be arguments because students may not let other students speak if the idea of the other student does not match there own
-2 of the 4 students may do all the work and the other 2 students will recieve the same mark, causing unhappy students and therefore stressed teachers
-Students may feel that the mark does not clearly reflect his or her effort put into the project

After assesing the pros and cons of groupwork I believe that groupwork if placed in the right setting is beneifical to classrooms. The pros deal with the formation of ideas and the cons deal with unfairness of marks. Therefore groupwork is more beneficial when ideas are being discussed rather than if there are marks on the line. I personally think that because each student receives his or her own marks at the end of the school year he or she should be responsible for his or her own work. However, discussions in group work teach students the importance of listening and considering other student's ideas as well as creating ideas that may have never been formed if not for groupwork.