First year college English professor said to me "Mr. Bundy you don't write worth a damn." Why? Because I used big words and needlessly complex sentence structure.
ADDENDUM - I was listening to NPR this morning and one of the features was about SAT scores. English (writing/reading comprehension) has declined -
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904491704576571060049856724.html