Dear All,
I was delighted by this article at http://heraldnet.com/article/20090228/OPINION03/702289998
that included this thought:
Glaciers recede, continents drift, and stars run out of fuel at a
faster pace than American metrication.
So I wrote the following note to the writer:
Dear Richard Slettvet,
I am writing to congratulate you on your article, 'A logical way to
improve math scores'. I believe that articles like yours go a long way
toward helping the citizens of the USA see through the veneer of
dishonesty that is currently preventing the USA from using the honest
and open measuring methods first promoted by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas
Jefferson, and George Washington.
As you know Franklin and Jefferson were very active in promoting
decimal methods to the political and scientific leaders in France
during the 1780s before the French made the decimal metric system
legal in 1795. I doubt that we would now have a metric system if it
were not for the decimal methods that the French 'philosophes'
obtained from the USA.
I heartily agree with the sentiments you express in your article and I
wish you every success with your plan to complete the metrication of
the USA started by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George
Washington (see the Metrication timeline at http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/MetricationTimeline.pdf
and search for Franklin, Jefferson, or Washington).
I am not a citizen of the USA; I live in Geelong in Australia. At best
I could be regarded as a faraway friend of the USA who has observed
metrication in many nations inclding many visits to the USA since
1980. I have been devising ways to teach the metric system since the
mid 1960s and I have tried a lot of them. Some work dramatically —
some don't work at all — and it is not always easy to choose the
approach that will give the best results. In my opinion, you are on
the right track with your idea to totally immerse students in one
measuring method — the metric system — only
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Geelong, Australia
[email protected]
http://www.metricationmatters.com
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has
helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the
modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they
now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for
their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many
different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial
and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA.
Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST,
and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com
for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected]
or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter
to subscribe.
