End of Composition Studies

I just finished reading Dave Smit's book, The End of Composition Studies, which plays on "end" to mean both goal and termination. I don't totally agree with him--I think he expected too much of composition--but his argument that it can't do what it is intended to do is provocative to say the least.

His proposal for change is fascinating in that he calls for the sorts of programs that we tried to start at KU. Interestingly, he avoids dealing with the faculty development component as well as with the student support components (writing centers, for example). But he does point out the obvious--writing only works well when a lot of people set high expectations and are willing to bring students in to their communities. The randomness of instruction is what creates the problems with transfer, I think; not so much that students can't, as they don't see any need to when faculty don't share high levels of expectation.