"they think I am some type of government agent " - haha, that is true... then that is why NY State is one of the last ones...
I learned custom units along with English language, and had not even thought about metric system much until 10 years later when I noticed that US kids don't even try to do any math in their heads. I don't recall ESL classes teaching conversion from metric to custom units(ESL teachers would need to know metric for that), but they definitely explained custom units if someone had a question(foot is about of size of your foot and there are tree of those in a yard). USMA discussions tough me to switch my thermostats/scales to metric and to announce my height and weight in a medical office in metric units without any hesitation. I would not dare to do so without USMA ;-) Using custom units on a daily basis was not a problem for me at all (grammatical articles were much worse enemies). But it was sad to observe that math/science education is suffering and US kids(including immigrants' kids) are in such disadvantaged position compare to foreign kids. Natalie ________________________________ From: Kilopascal <kilopas...@cox.net> To: U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu> Sent: Friday, November 1, 2013 2:24 PM Subject: [USMA:53378] RE: the UPLR permissive metric-only labeling amendment Natalia, That logic doesn’t always hold true. Most of those people are totally unaware there is a UPLR and what it implies. Most immigrants I encounter are afraid to use metric and more often then not will use USC when speaking to natives. I don’t know what they do when speaking their native language to others like them. Some immigrants will go as far as pretend they no longer know metric and will go out of their way to give you answers in USC. Even if I speak to them in metric or ask them a metric question the will answer in USC. I believe they think I am some type of government agent looking to see how loyal they are pretending not to know metric or using it. Do the English as a second language classes teach measurement words? I wonder if they people that it is anti-American to use metric in the US or if they do the natives will be insulted. What is your experience?\ [USMA:53378] RE: the UPLR permissive metric-only labeling amendment Natalia PermiakovaFri, 01 Nov 2013 05:18:20 -0700 NY should be the very first state in US adopting metric system: * With a July 2012 population of 8,336,697, New York..... * ...... * Over 3 million of New York City’s residents are foreign-born; over one-quarter arrived in 2000 or later. * ..... * New York City comprises over two-fifths of New York State’s entire population. * ..... http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/census/pop_facts.shtml
