"I Don't Know"

In "Inventing the University," David Bartholomae claims that "When the writer says, 'I don't know,' then, he is not saying that he has nothing to say.  He is saying that he is not in a position to carry on this discussion" (627).

Do you think this connects to reluctance or recalcitrance in students in the WC?  Can you use Bartholomae's argument to explain what Muriel Harris is describing?