Collaborative Learning

It did not surprise me that this article was published more recently than most of the others we have read. While some of the ideas are relevant to the theories we have read before (language as a means of learning, etc.), this idea of "collaborative" learning is something that seemed to pop up in the eighties and has been a buzz word ever since. With new technology continuing to develop, this idea of collaboration has become more and more popular, but I'm not as optimistic about it's superpowers as Bruffee seems to be, and I have disagreements with his claims that the only way to learn how to think is through communication with others.
I guess my biggest issue with the article is how Bruffee sings the praises of collaborative learning without addressing any of the negative aspects. He mentions them at the very end: "conformity, anti-intellectualism, intimidation, and leveling down of quality," but his ideas about collaboration offer no real tools to combat these problems, what I see as very realistic problems anytime collaborative thinking is encouraged, especially among students of disparate style concerns and motivation levels. As a kid who went to public school for all but two years, I had little interest is any kind of collaborative work until I got to college and was able to work with people who were all focused on more or less the same thing I was. While I think encouraging discussion among students to further their general knowledge is a good idea, I don't quite believe collaborative learning to be the missing link in developing writers Bruffee makes it out to be.