From: Jim Elwell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: June 27, 2001 10:07 Subject: [USMA:14060] Re: Metric Marketing >Carlton writes: > >> Probably the same mentality that shows time in French >> as 2130 (or 21h30) but in English as 9:30 pm, as if >> anglophones don't know 24-hour. > >Unfortunately, a large part of the US population does NOT know >24-hour format. Anyone with military experience does, and lots of >the rest of the country. However, if you get down to the >"laborer" level, people with high-school (or less) education who >have never traveled much, and consider TV the entertainment media >of choice, you will find a lot who have not ever seen or >understood 24-hour time. > >I know this because I train people like this (some of my >production employees). Most pick it up very quickly, but it's >quite obvious it is new to them. What about the journalists? It is my contention that many of them took "Journalism" because they 'hated' math and [in consequence] couldn't do science. The result is far too many literate, innumerate journalists. Respectable schools of journalism ought to present courses in numeracy. Duncan > >Jim Elwell >
