Dartmouth President touts the importance of effective writing

At the 241st Convocation of Dartmouth College, Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim said, "Among the many things I have learned from the Dartmouth faculty, one of the most significant lessons is that the ability to write clearly, effectively, and creatively may very well be the most important skill you will be taught in your time here.
"My expectation, as I have always said, is that each of you must go out and change the world after you have completed your time here. After many years of working on social problems like world poverty and lack of access to health care, it has become clear to me that for you to succeed in your world-changing mission you must leave Dartmouth with the ability to think clearly, imaginatively, and critically, and then render your thoughts in the written word. . . .
" . . . Now, don’t get me wrong: I am still a wildly enthusiastic believer in the power of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to help us solve problems. But it was in graduate school that I realized changing the world would require the ability, as one of your professors put it to me just the other day, to “see the world as it is, imagine the world you want to create, and then render that vision in a way that convinces others that it is both attainable and desirable.”

To read Kim's full address, click here.