2002-08-03 I think that is wonderful, but..... If I were to approach the students of this teacher, and asked these students some questions, like:
How tall are you? How much do you weigh? How far is it from point X to point Y? etc. Would these students answer me in SI or FFU? Now, this is only a math teacher. What about the other teachers? What units are they teaching? It is very easy to teach something and have it known by the students just for the test and later easily ignored or forgotten. Teaching SI in this haphazard fashion is as bad as having sporadic metric usage in construction. It actually hurts the cause. People will remember that at one time there was only one system in use in this country. Without a practical plan, all we have done is add more units to the collection, without taking the others away and thus in most peoples minds, metric has made life more confusing. All these little drips and drops here and there are not the answer. And never will be. John ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Joy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, 2002-07-31 22:40 Subject: [USMA:21480] Re: metric in schools > Jim, > > This is the sort of e-mail I want to see, i.e.. showing some progress in Metrication in the US. > > On page 8 of the Mar-Apr issue of 'Metric Today' a maths teacher in Lincoln, Nebraska is using only > SI units because it's obviously much easier than using two systems (one of which has no logic at > all). > > Let's see more teachers doing this to give American kids a fair chance. Please pass these comments > on to all teacher you may have contact with. The more teachers that teach in 'metric-only' language, > the faster USA will be metricated. > > Sincerely yours, > > Mike Joy > Perth, Australia > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jim Elwell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2002 12:44 AM > 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 > | > | >
