The math/science education worries me the most. Unless metric is the primary measurement reported on packaging, road signs, weather forecast, etc., it will stay foreign language for the kids. Kids pick up things very quickly, and no effort will be needed to get them used to metric system, especially when they are taught metric system in school(which i assume all the schools do now).
It breaks my heart when I see foreign kids converting/calculating in their heads so easily, smiling and enjoying the task, as opposite to be close to impossible to USA kids, considered by them a torture, not fun. I would keep US custom measurements in parentheses for another 30-40 years or until it gets completely obsolete. Natalie ________________________________ From: Kilopascal <kilopas...@cox.net> To: U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu> Sent: Sunday, September 8, 2013 8:25 AM Subject: [USMA:53229] \"Math Conversion-Metric System Help!,\" Cries a Nursing Student The problem results from a number of reasons. 1.) Not being taught the metric system in school as a child. 2.) Not using the metric system in every aspect of one's daily life. 3.) Trying to convert rather than learn and associate. If these students are struggling how will they ever be effective care givers? I can see medical errors abounding. A good reason for a country to fully metricate is to assure that its students when adults who will need to function in metric will be able to do so instead of the metric system becoming a life-long stumbling block. Here is a comment from a poster to Reddit metric that sums it up: http://www.reddit.com/r/Metric/comments/1ly5yr/math_conversionmetric_system_help/ It is idiotic to work with one system and use another one at home. You need to be able to feel units not just mechanically calculate them. If a fat guy says he weighs 80 kg a nurse that isn't used to metric might think that is reasonable. Conversions are seldom precise. People round the numbers and they can be converted back and forth increasing the errors. Healthcare would be safer and easier if everything was metric. Also what a waste of schooling. While the nursing students in the rest of the world are learning to be a nurse the American students have to learn basic units. The same thing with the military. Is metric taught in basic training? When I did basic it was just taken for granted that everyone new how many centimeters are in a kilometer and what time it is at 20:00. The last statement is something I didn't think of but applies to all disciplines. How much time is wasted in American college technical classes, such as Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, etc, in an effort to teach an abridged and error prone version of the metric system, when it should have been learned a decade or so earlier and already ingrained in one's thinking?
