I tend to disagree somewhat. Having worked for a leading edge engineering firm for thirty years 90% of my writing was technical documentation and instructions for users. It was parsed and parsed again. Content, structure, clarity and logic were stressed. And yet, this had to be produced so as to not sound as if it were written by a robot. Motherhood and apple pie were strictly prohibited. Personally, I found this a very rewarding field. As I advanced reviewing the technical documents, and later, signatory authority became the norm.
The decine of graduates writing ability started to become noticable in the late ‘70s to early ‘80s.
I don’t disagree at all. What I found was there is a continuum running from specificity on one end to comprehension on the other. It’s a zero sum game.