To USMA subscribers: A US university student recently sought opinion regarding the implementation of the metric system in Canadian schools. What follows is my response to the student. At the urging of Joe Reid, respected Past President of the Canadian Metric Association, I am copying my response to the USMA mail server. It may be of interest to some of you. John Parkyn ====================================================================== Through the magic of the internet, your query landed on my lap(top). My name is John Parkyn. I am the president of the Canadian Metric Associate.. I'm also a schoolteacher... in fact I've been one since 1967. As I recall, federal government legislation in 1971 saw the (real) introduction of metrication in Canada. Before then, metric measurement was limited to physics classes in upper high school and university. It took some 5 years for the federal legislation to begin percolating down to schools. Education in Canada is a provincial responsibility. Probably educational planners toyed with the introduction of metrication from let's say 1973 to 1975. I remember a flurry of schoolboard workshops and activity guides for teachers in the late 1970s. Also in the late 70s, textbooks (starting with math texts) started to 'go metric'. Now, to the best of my knowledge, no publisher would print any elementary or high school text in any subject in any province that was not metric from tip to toe... and I mean metric with sensible rounded numbers not silly soft conversions. There is no debate as to whether Canadian schools should 'be metric'. It's a given. BUT this does not mean that teachers or even children are metric in their essence, in their being. I really don't think that many / most teachers have a firm grasp of SI or understand or appreciate its relationships, rhythm, beauty, simplicity. I am (rather was) a metric zealot, but for most children, teachers, and parents it's a non-issue. Very few people in the school system opposed or supported metrication. Twenty years ago I would say to little Jimmy, "Please open the window a few centimetres". However, you can hear teachers even today say, "Open the window a few inches". Our 20-30 something folks are conservative... I am more metric than my son. What is significant is that we don't say 'metrication' (at least in the elementary school) we say 'measurement'. Children don't study 'metrication', they study 'measurement'. Canada is tri-mensurial country at present: in some sectors, it's thoroughly metric eg meteorology, highway distances, and gas stations. In other sectors eg hardware, body measurements it's still very much imperial. In grocery stores, it's mixed... metric meats in one aisle, imperial fruit in the next. Canada is a measurement hotch-potch. Fifteen years ago, I was frightened that the metric drive would cave in under the weight of US influence and domestic dinosaurs. I'm not scared anymore. I don't have to be a zealot any more... we're past the point of no return. Canada will not be purely metric in my lifetime (I'm 54), but the day will come. Maybe in a century the US will have reached the point of no return. Then the world will have a common measurement language. In a small way, people will be more united. Anyhow, I'm 'speechifying'. I'm not really answering your question/concerns. I'll try now. Anyhow, back to your question... In the late 70s many/most teachers had one foot in the SI camp and another in the imperial camp... they would move back and forth between metric and imperial, converting to comfort themselves. After a while, they gained some metric confidence and slowly slid into metric only (sort of). We probably realized that it was a waste of time moving between two systems... better to get on with it. We didn't want to confuse children. It took enough of our energy to teach one system. As fo the kids, they more or less went along with what with what we dished up. They appear neither pro or agin metric... No small achievement really when you consider that many parents would moan about the change. All in all, conversion has been quite painless. The whole process would have been a lot smoother if: 1. Incoming Conservative federal governments in the late 70s had not got cold feet and slowed (not killed) the conversion process 2. The Canadian mouse did exist next to the American imperial elephant... From what I understand, conversion has been smoother and more effective in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Hope this helps. John Parkyn
