Teaching SI in science and technology courses and classes is not a waste of
time since S&T is already mostly metric. Montgomery County (MC) is the
bio-tech corridor of the nation since it is near the US National Institutes
of Health.
The SI was put into the science program for MC schools this fall and now it
is beginning to put it into the curriculum. Things don't get done
instantaneously so it will take time. It has taken a year to get to this
point in the school system, but it's a start. If you don't start you'll
never get finished. We have a very bright and forward thinking
Superintendent (Jerry Weast) who made it possible for the 138 000 student
system. He told me personally a couple of weeks ago that he is committed to
the SI.
The MC school system is now beginning to use the SI standards and the SI
writing style and it will include the ISO standard date time format. For
the time being, teachers are left to the teaching method most suited to the
class since each is different in terms of course content and grade level.
The focus is on science and technology rather than on consumer items you see
in stores. A basic teaching tool is the relationship diagram of the SI and
its derivatives which you can get from the USMA. The diagram brings it all
together visually. I distributed the diagram back in the 1970s when there
was a national push for metric.
Science and technology is mostly metric now so students will be better
prepared for good jobs in those fields.
Stan Doore
As one fortunate to also live in Montgomery County, this is good news. My older son has graduated. One of his science textbooks gave fleeting reference to FFU in the introduction then noted that "we will be using SI only" -- and the entire rest of the book was correct. The younger son still has math books that offer problem solving in both systems. Dang. He also has a form I have to sign every day; I put the date in ISO 8601. Maybe now the teachers will start to become familiar with it.
Note also that Montgomery County (and my home town of Gaithersburg) is the home of NIST; that may also be a factor.
Carleton
