Dear All,
I have just read an article by Wacek Kijewski, from Botswana, that I
found at http://www.articlesbase.com/science-articles/how-the-simetric-system-was-introduced-in-africa-1302707.html
Wacek raises some interesting points. I will comment on one of them.
Before I begin, I have to say that I define the word, metrication, as
the process of upgrading to the metric system. In my view, it is the
metrication process that is critically important if you want to
upgrade to the metric system simply and – perhaps more importantly –
quickly.
When Wacek Kijewski writes:
Surprisingly, the change was more visible and easier done in business
(packaging, volumes, balances), industry (re-tooling), shops and
streets (kilometer posts, speed signs, change to a right hand drive)
than in a university laboratory. – and then asks – Why did they
succeed in (a) relatively smooth way?
My immediate response is that the different groups used different
metrication approaches; business, industry, shops, and streets all
used direct metrication, selecting metric prefixes so that whole
numbers could predominate. They avoided conversions and they avoided
fractions, both decimal, and common of vulgar fractions. Examples are
choosing millilitres and litres (but not centilitres and decilitres),
grams and kilograms (but not centigrams and decigrams), millimetres
and metres (but not centimetres and decimetres).
On the other hand, primary and secondary schools, technical colleges,
and universities tend to choose to encourage conversions and they
continue to persist with teaching fractions of all types, binary,
decimal, duodecimal, and common of vulgar fractions. Examples are
choosing to teach millilitres, centilitres, decilitres, litres,
hectolitres, cubic centimetres, cubic decimetres, and cubic
hectometres; grams, centigrams, decigrams, kilograms, megagrams, and
gigagrams; millimetres, centimetres, decimetres, metres, decametres,
hectometres, kilometres, and megametres etc.
These two approaches are so profoundly different that the first –
direct metrication – can be adopted in a day; see http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html
while the second can take hundreds of years; see http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/ApproachesToMetrication.pdf
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, that you can obtain
from http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html
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.
