"The Human Conversation"

It is necessary, at least in some cases, to discuss your ideas with others when writing. Without human interaction during the writing process, especially if you're writing about something that begs each person to develop his or her own point of view (such as any political or religious topic), you will be exposed only to your ideas and your writing runs the risk of becoming very one-sided. How will you be able to convince anyone of your argument without knowing what the counter-argument is? Also, your mind will expand and become more open to new and innovative thoughts and ideas through this interaction. If you're writing about your particular experiences or expressing your reflections on a particular event, however, interaction with peers might have a negative impact on this. Your writing will most likely become somewhat influenced by the reaction of your friends, even if you don't intend that to happen.

On the other hand, working collaboratively also develops one's ability to cooperate with other people and come to an agreement as a group in addition to broadening one's mind. This is a necessary skill to learn while in school, especially because almost all jobs in all professions will require workers to collaborate on projects. Kenneth Bruffee mentions in his article "Collaboration of Mankind" that medical school students who were told to collaborate on a diagnosis of a patient "acquired good medical judgment faster than individuals working alone." Perhaps this is why doctors, especially those working mainly in hospitals, often work together in teams when diagnosing a patient.

One thing that was mentioned in Bruffee's article that I didn't quite understand is why this collaboration among students was so revolutionary when it was introduced. I've had to do group projects for school since I was in second grade. Working with others seems simply like another required part of school. Maybe this was the goal of those who developed this method: for cooperative learning to be second nature to students. All in all, I do think this process is extremely beneficial for students. So much can be learned from these experiences that will help students in school ... and in life in general. After all, "the human conversation takes place within us as well as among us."