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Dear Pat,
Thanks for the link. I'd be the first to admit that the
issues are too many and varied to claim metrication to be the saviour of
numeracy standards. For example, some of the countriies at the bottom of the
league are fully metric.
However there are a couple of things in the UNICEF press
release that are worth noting:
(1) "The percentage considered "unable to apply basic
mathematical knowledge" varies ..."
Note how they refer to the ability to *apply* their
knowledge rather than what they know or should know.
(2) "Whether they are looking for a job, or trying to work
out how much medicine to give their own child based on the instructions written
on the packet, they will find themselves at a very serious
disadvantage"
It's interesting that they choose an issue involving
measurement calculation as an example of a "serious disadvantage" caused by poor
numeracy skills.
Phil Hall
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 12:27
AM
Subject: [USMA:33146] Literacy and
numeracy
Dear
Daniel, Phillip, and All,
Like all educational matters, this issue of
literacy and numeracy is not simple. Go to http://www.unicef.org/media/media_19241.html
for a summary of some of the issues involved in testing literacy and numeracy
internationally.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin ASM (NSAA), LCAMS
(USMA)*
PO Box 305, Belmont, Geelong, Australia
Phone 61 3 5241
2008
Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online monthly newsletter,
'Metrication matters'. You can subscribe by going to http://www.metricationmatters.com
and clicking on 'Newsletter'.
* Pat is the editor of the 'Numbers
and measurement' chapter of the Australian Government Publishing Service
'Style manual � for writers, editors and printers', he is an Accredited
Speaking Member (ASM) with the National Speakers Association of Australia, and
a Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist (LCAMS) with the United
States Metric Association.
This email and its attachments are for the
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and/or legally privileged. This email and its attachments are subject to
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on 2005-06-09 08.06, Daniel at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
This problem is
found in the US too. Periodically attention is brought to the subject,
then it gets ignored again. Does the same situation happen in advanced
metric countries, or is this a problem of the US and UK alone? If it
is just a US/UK problem then possibly the connection is with a difficult set
of units. If citizens of first world metric countries also can't do
basic math, then there is no correlation between measurements and the
ability to do simple math.
As for the DIY shops why
would they care if people waste money as long as they waste it on their
products? If they were losing money on people's ignorance, then they
would be the first to raise the issue. If the consumers are the ones
losing their money it is up to the consumers to complain and for some reason
they are not.
It also might be as was referenced in an earlier posting that
much of the waste may have to do with trying to measure supply needs in
imperial when the house dimensions and supplies are metric.
Dan
----- Original Message -----
From: Philip S Hall <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: U.S. Metric Association <mailto:[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, 2005-06-08
05:04
Subject: [USMA:33141] Re: Use of
millimetres
Pat,
A
couple of years ago a group in the UK (I can't remember which)
reported the results of similar research with the UK population. The
results showed that 1 in 3 couldn't calculate area in either metric
or imperial. This was highlighted on a BBC report about people wasting
their money on DIY because they couldn't calculate material
requirements.
The
UK gov has launched an adult literacy and numeracy program to combat
poor standards, so it is officially recognised.
It's a sad indictment of developed countrys with mature
education systems that so many people are falling by the way side.
There are I'm sure many reasons for this but as far as mathematics
is concerned a big factor in my view, (which is supported by
education professionals) is that not enough is done to encourage its
application to the outside world, or even to other subject areas. It
tends to be learned in an academic vacuum.
This situation can only be exacerbated by a society where
kids are taught to calculate using metric but encounter non-metric
or more significantly non-decimal units of measurment in everyday
life.
Phil Hall
----- Original Message -----
From: Pat Naughtin <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: U.S. Metric Association <mailto:[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 4:37
AM
Subject: [USMA:33119] Re: Use of
millimetres
on 2005-06-06 09.56, Bill
Hooper at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
Surely if there were a big problem with the use
of 3-digit numbers, someone in the US would have proposed we add
the stone to our "system" of measures so that we could "more
easily weigh ourselves". :-)
Regards,
Bill
Hooper
Dear Bill
and All,
One of the issues here is that so much of our
population have few numeracy skills and the use of millimetres
(only) on a building site reduces all measures to simple numbers �
granted they may be large numbers � but they are simple, and able
to be successfully handled by a large range of workers.
I
was reminded of this yesterday when I heard a radio report from
Canada that reported on a study of some 23 000 adult Canadians.
This report found that about 42 % of their test subjects were
functionally illiterate and innumerate. I tried to find references
to this on the net but could only find these old
quotes:
Quote 1
See: http://canadaonline.about.com/b/a/024678.htm
September
08, 2003
Literacy in Canada
On International Literacy Day, it's important to
realize that approximately 20 percent of adult Canadians do not
have basic literacy skills in reading, writing, counting and
computing to meet the demands of the workplace. Another 20 percent
have difficulty.
Quote 2
See: http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/abc/impabc/p5.htm
Reading
skills of Canada's adult population
Reading level
Definition
Percent of
Canadian population
Level 1
Non-readers
Have difficulty
dealing with printed materials. Most likely identify
themselves as people who cannot read.
7%
Level
2
Poor readers
Can use printed materials for
limited purposes only, such as finding a familiar word in a
simple text. Recognize themselves as having difficulties with
common reading materials.
9%
Level 3
Reluctant
readers
Can use reading materials in a variety of
situations, provided the material is simple, clearly laid
out/ and the tasks involved are not too complicated.
Generally do not see themselves as having significant reading
difficulties, but tend to avoid situations requiring
reading.
22%
Level 4
Readers
Can meet
most everyday reading demands. Are a diverse group and
exhibit a wide range of skills.
62%
Source: Adult
Literacy in Canada: Results of a National
Study
Although this confirmed the 42 %
figure (previously reported as 40 % and as 38 %) it did not give
any more details.
>From data that I have seen in
Australia the local figures are about the same in Canada as in
Australia. But again the literacy figures are only sometimes
reported and the numeracy figures almost never. I know nothing
about literacy and numeracy rates in the USA.
The reason
that I am reporting these figures here is that I believe that to
manage a successful metrication program you needs to consider the
literacy, and more especially the numeracy, of your target
audience. If your intended audience is the whole population of a
nation then you need to know about literacy and numeracy rates --
and, as I said, these can be very hard to find and literacy figures
are more often quoted than numeracy figures.
Anti-metric
forces have often pointed out how silly it is to name large,
imprecisely measured objects in hundreds or even thousands of tiny
millimetres with long rows of zeroes. In isolation this is not a
bad argument, but it ignores the enormous practical benefits of
the complete removal of fractions, both vulgar and decimal from
all measuring work. Measurement and calculations are much easier
because there are so few costly errors produced by calculations that
involve any sort of fractions.
Experience in Architecture
and Engineering, and in the Bricklaying, Butchery, Carpentry,
Electrical Trades, Fitting and Machining, Gas-fitting, Joinery,
Metal Fabrication, Plumbing, and Saddlery trades has shown the
benefits of using millimetres both in the initial learning of
measurement skills and in the use of them on a daily
basis.
This 'difficulty' is put into context when we
consider that builder's labourers, in Australia, New Zealand, and
South Africa, often with little secondary education, have no
trouble with tens of thousands of millimetres, but rocket
scientists at NASA in the USA have trouble landing a Mars Probe
using a combination of metric decimals and customary feet and
inches with fractions.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin ASM
(NSAA), LCAMS (USMA)*
PO Box 305, Belmont, Geelong,
Australia
Phone 61 3 5241 2008
Pat Naughtin is the
editor of the free online monthly newsletter, 'Metrication
matters'. You can subscribe by going to http://www.metricationmatters.com
and clicking on 'Newsletter'.
* Pat is the editor of
the 'Numbers and measurement' chapter of the Australian Government
Publishing Service 'Style manual � for writers, editors and
printers', he is an Accredited Speaking Member (ASM) with the
National Speakers Association of Australia, and a Lifetime
Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist (LCAMS) with the United
States Metric Association.
This email and its attachments
are for the sole use of the addressee and may contain information
that is confidential and/or legally privileged. This email and its
attachments are subject to copyright and should not be partly or wholly
reproduced without the consent of the copyright owner. Any
unauthorised use of disclosure of this email or its attachments is
prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please immediately
delete it from your system and notify the sender by return
email.
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