Bruffee began to be studied in the early 80s and his work holds up to the needs of students today. If you want essential development of argument and persuasion, this is the book for you. I used it as a model for a college writing compentency preparatory program and the model is still being used today with great results. The model was also adapted by many educators at many levels with success. It introduced critical thinking and helped students quickly organize their thinking for a variety of writing tasks. There's also a great section on why b.s. gets good grades sometimes. I love it and haven't found anything more concise and practical for helping students write essays.

A faculty symposium (Jan 2001) was given Ken Bruffee's book to read as the text for the symposium's subject of "interactivity" in distance education.

I'm afraid the book failed to convince. The moderator, Dr. Steve Eskow, of the Pangaea Network -- and the one who chose the text for the symposium -- admitted that the work needed "severe editing".

Others criticised its evangelical tone and referred to the "blessed St. Ken." Many were put off by the book's tone: Ken starts in his preface by referring to students as incapable of interacting with each other as human beings, and then goes on to put down his readers in the first sentence of the first chapter -- he was achieving wisdom while the rest of us were going through puberty, thereby neatly alluding to our sexual inadequacy in the face of his own whatever. Whatever.

Bruffee has a distinct agenda - he wants to restructure higher education and "reacculturate" students. Some wondered at the political undercurrent of the work, but I reckon the thrust is religious rather than political. St. Ken has Seen the Light, and all those who flock to him will be Saved from Darkness.

Never mind that the book's argument is entirely anecdotal; if one truly believes in nonfoundational social constructivism then the lack of hard facts doesn't matter: Ken is Right! Everyone else in Education is Wrong (and heading straight to Hell).

Hey Ho.

Although I don't agree with the nonfoundationalist point of view, there is much to ponder and learn from Bruffee. If one delves into WHY they don't agree with his thesis, they'll probably come away from the exercise with a far better understanding about their position vis-a-vis education-perhaps they'll even develop their own philosophy of education.

However, believers beware: if you agree with the concepts outlined by Bruffee and the nonfoundationalist camp, check the other side of the coin (cognitive, essentialist, traditionalist) before committing.