there are circumstances under which a guy would want to use the part the OP specified. (1) He's building ONE of what he wants, and he already has the parts, (2) his lab assignment was to do THAT, and not something else, and he's wanting some guidance as to where to begin (not the best motive if he intends to learn anything) (3) his boss told him what to use.
My opinion: (1) nor valid (FedEx) (2) unfortunately valid (3) requires "teaching" the boss. "Teaching" the boss takes guts, and if you are gutless, you should not dabble in embedded.

Already having the parts is a powerful motive if you're going to build exactly one of something and have to finish it this week. That's particularly so if it's already Wednesday.
Nope and FedEx removed the wednesday excuse. It will take you much more time to code the wrong hardware than to code the right hardware.

One of the best ways to learn what a bad design is, is to build and use one.
That can be true, but how many posts have you seen where known defective designs (e.g. "you do not need a MAX232") have been touted as good becauese they work". So the unlucky guy that get something out of it has learned the wrong thing, the lucky guy that can not make it "work" has wasted a lot of time. note "unlucky" and "lucky" in the above is used intentionally as they are!

However, Marek Swierzy hasn't been back for a few days now and hasn't indicated why he can't use two stop-bits. Has he been spooked off by yet another tirade about why his choice of parts is wrong?
My guess is that he took the 2 stop bit suggestion and, as so many others, did not see a reason to tell us.

Erik