Hi Carlton, Thanks for your story. I agree completely, and also agree to a large extent with a recently posted "critical mass" theory. Those of us Americans in the under-40 crowd grew up with the metric system. We can't remember a time when the metric system wasn't quasi-everywhere: meter sticks, 2 liter bottles, nutrition information, science class, light bulbs, centimeters on rulers, Celsius on thermometers, dual-units on consumer products.... Unlike previous generations we have no particular hostility toward or fear of the metric system. The day will come when our lawmakers won't be afraid to use the power the Constitution gives them "to fix the standards of weights and measures."
John On Tuesday 02 September 2003 09:43, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Last Thursday I went to my kid's high school open house. The high school > is in Montgomery County, Maryland just north of D.C. > > The last class of the day was engineering. We used to call this "shop", > and, yes, there are a lot of power tools around, but the kids actually > design and build interesting things, not just stools and paper towel > holders. > > The teacher went into some detail about some of the projects the kids would > be working on. They include building a canoe out of cardboard (which has > to float), model bridges, and the like, all of which teach them basic > engineering skills as well as the use of tools. > > At the end of the short presentation, I asked what measurement units the > class would be using. > > The teacher replied that they would be using predominately metric, with the > exception of the canoe, which is taught by an 82 year old colleague who is > too far along to have learned it. He went on to say that some of the kids > don't really understand inches and feet and only know metric! (This is > suburban Maryland, remember!) > > I commented that it sure would have helped if we had taken care of business > 30 years ago. ALL the other parents nodded in agreement (but remember this > is a somewhat educated group of people). > > The job may not be as difficult as we think once we get the politicians and > backsliders out of the way. > > Carleton
