Jerry,
I think what you were dealing with was the difference between someone using math, physics, and chemistry in a real-world application (your students), versus the same math, physics, and chemistry in a strictly egg head realm (the fellow teachers).
I dreaded it when I had to try to memorize the material long enough to pass a test without any reference to practical application.
I did have a high school course called Applied Math. The teacher was very good about making sure that the lessons matched the title of the course.
