I am inclined to agree with some caution being exercised in respect of
impact on education, but we shouldn't dismiss it or play it down either.
In the absence of research we can't dimension it or be specific as to the
difference it will make. We can however point out that learning metric in
school lessons and being deprived of the opportunity to apply it fully
elsewhere is bound to have a negative effect.
Phil Hall
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Saxton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, February 05, 2006 12:29 AM
Subject: [USMA:35969] RE: Video Podcast - Request for feedback.
I watched the video and although I think the message is clear, as an
occasional (non fiction) author I must question the validity of the
underlying assertion, namely that in an educational sense, American
children are less advanced than their counterparts in other countries
because we don't use the metric system.
I doubt that the argument is sustainable. Certainly some time is spent
(wasted) learning and dealing with an outmoded measurement system but to
blame the educational lag on it is stretching the bounds of credulity.
To carry that argument, some statistics and supporting evidence must be
provided.
I suspect that the reasons for the standards disparity are far more
complex than not using the metric system and have more to do with American
schools emphasis on social development rather than on computational,
literary and scientific skills. I grew up in a country which, at the
time, used UK imperial measurements but I do not feel that it hindered my
education at all. In a far-off land I learned more about world geography
and economics than any of my neighbours today, to the point that I seem to
know more about the USA and Canada than they do. (This is not intended as
a boast, just a counterexample of the supposed disadvantage of using an
old measurement system.
David King wrote:
http://homepage.mac.com/scott_hudnall/just_that_simple.mov
You should upload it to Google, they will host it for free, and then it
is likely more people will see it.
http://video.google.com/
Sign up for an account if you don't have one already. If you need an
invite to join, I shall send you one from my Google email account, just
let me know.
David King
Buy UKMA's report "A Very British Mess" ISBN 0750310146
http://www.ukma.org.uk/Docs/pubs.htm
Avoid confusion with conversion, just learn to think metric!
http://www.thinkmetric.org.uk
Nat Hager III wrote:
Scott,
I think it's very good. Makes the point very effectively. How do we get
this on TV?
Nat
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] *On
Behalf Of *Scott Hudnall
*Sent:* Saturday, 2006 February 04 14:32
*To:* U.S. Metric Association
*Subject:* [USMA:35959] Video Podcast - Request for feedback.
Hello to everyone here on this listserv. I have created a video podcast
on the subject of the President’s new Competitiveness Initiative and
would like to ask readers here for constructive criticism about content,
verbiage, et cetera before I give it a final render and submit it to
video podcast sites. (Please let me know if I have not caught any
typographical, grammar, or math errors)
Since video files are usually large, I recommend that you only download
the file if you have a broadband connection. The file is 23 MB and can
be downloaded at
http://homepage.mac.com/scott_hudnall/just_that_simple.mov .
Thanks for your input.
--
Scott Hudnall
