Dear John, You raise a fascinating point here.
I have been concerned for a long time with the state of metric education in Australian schools. Sure they all teach metric measures, principally centimetres, but this does not help to prepare Australian children for Australian industry that uses predominantly millimetres. To put this in a context that you have heard me use before. Children are helped to develop a centimetre mindset during their school years. It is only when they leave school that they begin to learn to measure in the way Australian industry measures. Cheers, Pat Naughtin CAMS Geelong, Australia on 2002-08-01 14.11, kilopascal at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > 2002-07-31 > > That's Great! But, how many of these kids use metric units in their daily > lives? It is one thing to be taught only in metric and another thing to use > it on the street, in the home and elsewhere. I just wonder how many of > these kids, when they are adults, will claim never to have learned metric in > the school or would claim they forgot it and go on their merry way measuring > in FFU. > > > John > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jim Elwell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Wednesday, 2002-07-31 12:44 > Subject: [USMA:21456] metric in schools > > >> On a recent vacation, I spent some time with friends in Star Valley, >> Wyoming. This is a beautiful, remote farming community in a valley >> surrounded by mountains, about an hour's drive south of Yellowstone >> National Park. >> >> The wife half of these friends is a 3rd grade schoolteacher in this > valley. >> She informed me that all grades learn metric ONLY -- they do not teach >> anything using inches or other colloquial units, at least in K-6 grades. >> She did not know for sure what the 7-12 grades did, but believed they also >> used metric. >> >> Seems to me we are making progress, when metric is being taught in such a >> remote part of the country. >> >> Jim Elwell, CAMS >> Electrical Engineer >> Industrial manufacturing manager >> Salt Lake City, Utah, USA >> www.qsicorp.com >> >
