Re: Math vs. writing

["Westra, Kayla L." <13718westr -at- KCPBLDG01 -dot- BV -dot- COM>]

Kimberly writes

>I have come to believe that
>having good writing skills is just as important in some areas of science as
>good math skills.  As a student, I am seeing first hand that engineering
>courses are requiring a lot more writing in order to complete key courses.

I'm glad to hear this.  I teach a writing class to engineers, most of whom
have had terrifying "Comp. 101" writing experiences in which they were told
they couldn't write.  Maybe they struggled with creative writing, but they
don't have a problem with writing in their fields.  The  "but I can't write"
mindset can be quite a handicap.

>I am hoping that my 2 1/2 years of engineering and computer science
education
>along with my writing skills will make me a well rounded person who will be
>valuable to engineering based and computer science based corporations. It
is
>also very well accepted at my university at least that one cannot be a good
>writer and a good scienntist.  I hope to one day prove them wrong when I
>finish my CE degree...but we will see.

As one of the mathematically impaired who chose English because I struggled
desperately through my math classes (where are the rest of you, by the way)
and I love to read/write, I think the key is being able to understand
concepts.  For example, I can understand heat balances and their
purpose/function, but I really don't want to be able to perform one. <G>

Kayla