Paul Trusten
Begin forwarded message:
From: [email protected]
Date: December 29, 2009 19:53:43 CST
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: U.S. metrication --"contrarian prediction for the 2010s"
Dear Mr. Pellissier,
Thank you for spotlighting the coming U.S. changeover to the metric
system as a prediction for the 2010s (greatschools.com). We at the
U.S. Metric Association (USMA) support the teaching of the metric
system only, in the Nation's schools; that is, the teaching of non-
metric units should be eliminated, and the metric system taught
exclusively, in American schools. We agree wholeheartedly with you
that mathematics and science education in our country would be
improved by this change.
The goal of U.S. metrication will not really be news in the next
decade. It has been discussed throughout the 20th century, most
recently in 1975, when the Congress passed the Metric Conversion
Act. The latter was amended in 1988 to elevate the metric system to
the status of "the preferred" system of measurement for U.S. trade
and commerce.
Also, there has also been a quiet juggernaut of metric-system
endorsement across the Nation. Since 2000, 54 out of the 56 U.S.
weights-and-measures jurisdictions (all states and territories
except New York State and Alabama) have approved the option of
metric-only labeling of products whose labeling is under their
control. We at the USMA support the establishment of this labeling
option for all U.S. consumer products. For example, a 2-liter bottle
of soft drink would not have to be labeled also in quarts or fluid
ounces, as current federal law requires.
In addition, numerous editorials in the U.S. press, both online and
in print, have supported the changeover to metric.
USMA is a non-profit, national organization, founded in 1916 and
dedicated to U.S. conversion to the SI metric system as the Nation's
primary measurement standard. For more information on USMA and
metric, please visit our Web site at www.metric.org.
Sincerely,
Paul Trusten, R.Ph
Public Relations Director
U.S. Metric Association, Inc.
[email protected]
www.metric.org
www.twitter.com/usmetric
