3 ms·

Have you considered that part of what was being assessed was communication ability? If the degree requires essay writing then I expect graduates to be competent

Have you considered that part of what was being assessed was communication ability? If the degree requires essay writing then I expect graduates to be competent at writing.

User23 4y ago
Indeed. I think it was Feynman who said something along the lines of "if you can't clearly explain something, you don't understand it." From the pragmatic philosophical distinction, I've acquired an appreciation for distinctness that's as great as mine for clarity[1]. Incidentally, I always find it surprising how readable Peirce's popular works are. [1] https://courses.media.mit.edu/2004spring/mas966/Peirce%201878%20Make%20Ideas%20Clear.pdf https://courses.media.mit.edu/2004spring/mas966/Peirce%20187...
- vondur 4y ago
  It's got to be really tough for a non-native speaker to become a good writer in another language. It's possible that they were quite a good writer in Tamil, just not in English.
- poulpy123 4y ago
  It's true but only valid for a language you're proficient in.
- jtode 4y ago
  He was able to explain the concepts to me with his words just fine, he just wasn't able to write them down too well. Again, I did not correct his work, I was an English student and knew sfa about his work. But I transliterated his Bad English explanations into Good English explanations and he got excellent grades on his essays, so it seems to me he was very competent. I'm pretty sure there's a critical mass of famous science dudes who relied on someone else to turn their scribble into coherent writing. No difference.
jtode 4y ago
From what I can see he was studying to prepare for working in International Aid orgs back in Sri Lanka, so I don't think his English matters too much.