what were they thinking?

Some women sitting in the student lounge at the university on Saturday were discussing their grades on an exam. They are apparently in one of the medical programs in the School of Public Health. Perhaps I should emphasize the graduate School of Public Health. As in, need to have a bachelor's degree to get in. Comparing notes, they were complaining about having points deducted for poor spelling: "... but, I didn't realize he was going to emphasize spelling. If I'd known that, I would have studied it more". Then one said, "I spelled gynecology wrong." Apparently "emphasize" means "expects you to know better"?

They're over 20, have supposedly successfully completed a degree in something vaguely scientific, and haven't realized that they need to know how to spell things? No one in my program has said "spelling is important" (well, one prof did, to emphasize its importance on a term paper). I know how to spell gynecology. And gynecologist. And gynecological. I'm taking a medical class this semester: occupational medicine. I am quite positive that, on our exam on Wednesday, my professor is going to expect me to be able to pneumoconiosis, phagocytosis, and asphyxiant correctly. Although gynecology won't be required to able to demonstrate my spelling skills.