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Originally Posted by oaksoft  It's interesting you mention engineering. Engineering (particularly IT) is full of unnecessary jargon which by definition excludes people from understanding it. Used to drive me up the wall. |
It depends on who your "audience" is. For example, I could likely bury just about anyone here by talking about Quantum Field Theory in terms of the Physics. And my fiancee speaks "doctor." I recently heard a conversation between her and her doctor where the words were perfectly clear, but I had no understanding of what they were saying.
No, a surgeon doesn't need to know spelling or correct grammar to succesfully operate on a patient. But I'll bet he/she had to know it in order to learn the procedure in the first place. I understand that you feel grading language skills in, say, the Physical Sciences is unfair. Frankly a lot of students do. I also know that I'm not likely to convince you otherwise, so I'm not going to try any more. All the relevant points have already been made. Just tuck this conversation in your memory somewhere. You may change your mind about it when you get further on in your career.
-Dan