I have some experience teaching 10 and 11 year olds in the US. I think you would find very few students would win any money at all on either set of questions. In fact, many high school students would win no money, and even the vast majority of those that did could not possibly do it without a calculator, even with the metric questions. Students have calculators with them all the time (in their cell phones) and never do anything in their head any more, which is unfortunate, because that negates one of the biggest advantages of the metric system.
Alan Lawrence From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:48900] US metric in 10 years? Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:50:35 +0000 There is a way to get the US predominantly metric in 10 years. It involves that sure-fire way of making progress in anything - money and time. The concept is quite simple, and consists of getting schoolchildren when they are around 10 or 11 years old to make a simple choice: Embark on their secondary education EITHER entirely in metric units (no imperial/USC allowed AT ALL), OR involving a mix of both systems. To 'help' the young students make their decision, the following is the proposed modus operandi: 1. The students must take a simple quiz (see table below for typical quiz questions). 2. The students must choose to answer EITHER the metric version of the quiz, OR the imperial/USC version. Once that decision is made, it cannot be changed once they have seen the questions. 3. Their entire secondary school education from this point on will be conducted according to which set of questions they answered - all in metric if they answered the metric version, or a mix of metric and imperial/USC if they answered the imperial/USC version (some metric education is still necessary even in the US). 4. A prize of $1000 is offered to all students on completion of the quiz. 5. The prize is however reduced by the following formula: $5 for each second of time taken to answer the questions, and $250 for each incomplete or incorrect answer. 6. A bonus of $250 is added for those students who do not use a calculator. 7. As the quiz is of very short duration (max. 4 min 10 s based on a total of $1250 to be won and $5 per second penalty), each student will be tested individually. This can be accomplished by each student stepping outside of their classroom one at a time to sit at a small table, where an invigilator with a stopwatch will hand the student the paper with the questions. When finished, the invigilator will record the time taken and immediately mark the paper (should only take a few seconds), and tell the student how much money they have won. 8. The student will then step back into the classroom and inform the class of the amount of their prize. 9. In addition to the prize money, those students who answered the imperial/USC version of the test will have to undertake their education of non-metric units during the school holidays. The alternative is to give the metric students days off/supervised school outings while the non-metric students undergo their imperial/USC education. 10. It will soon become apparent that those students who answered the metric questions will have won far more money, and get more holidays, than those who didn't, which will be plain to see for those students waiting to take their test. That will I'm sure have a big impact on their decision as to which version of the test to take. 11. In addition, it will also be apparent that not using a calculator is quite achievable answering the metric version ($250 bonus, and likely no extra time), but can only be done with the non-metric version at the expense of time - which of course will erode the amount of the prize to be won and will likely more than wipe out the bonus (i.e. the imperial/USC test will only need take an additional 50 s to manually calculate the answers before the bonus has gone). 12. After the first year, students will have the option of switching from the mixed environment to the metric-only environment (but not vice versa). 13. Multiple sets of papers will probably be necessary, essentially the same questions but with different values, in order to prevent the early students secretly passing the answers on to those yet to take the test (possible even in a classroom environment - students can be quite inventive). 14. All the principles and formulas required to answer the questions will already have been taught the students, as well as all the necessary conversion factors, which will all be required to be recalled from memory. In ten years, I predict there will be a majority of students who will have been educated solely in the metric system, and who will likely want to continue that way when they embark on their careers. That will create huge pressures on both politicians and the business community for the US to convert to SI. The following are the questions: Q# METRIC IMPERIAL/USC 1 A farmer has a 10 ha field to plow. If his plow is 5 m wide, how many km will he travel in plowing the field? A farmer has a 20 acre field to plow. If his plow is 20 ft wide, how many miles will he travel in plowing the field? 2 A car has a metric odometer showing km and 10ths of a km. The driver sees a sign saying speed limit 500 m ahead. How may 10ths of a km will click round on the odometer by the time the speed limit is reached? A car has an odometer showing miles and 10ths of a mile. The driver sees a sign saying speed limit 1500 ft ahead. How many 10ths of a mile will click round on the odometer by the time the speed limit is reached? 3 A room measures 5.75 m x 12 m. How many square meters of flooring are required to cover the existing floor? A room measues 20 ft 9 in x 30 ft. How many square yards of flooring are required to cover the existing floor? 4 A tropical fish tank measures 40 cm x 30 cm x 20 cm. How many liters of water will it hold? A tropical fish tank measures 20 in x 15 in x 10 in. How many US gallons will it hold? 5 How many kilograms will the water in Q4 weigh? How many pounds will the water in Q4 weigh? 6 An aircraft travels between two points 1200 km apart, at an average speed of 800 km/h. How long will its journey take? An aircraft travels between two points 1000 miles apart, at an average speed of 500 knots. How long will its journey take? 7 A carton of soup is shown to contain 500 mL. How may cartons will it take to fill a 3 liter container? A carton of soup is shown to hold 20 US fluid ounces. How may cartons will it take to fill a 2 US gallon container? 8 A slice of meat weighs 20 g. How many slices will make up 2.5 kg of meat? A slice of meat weighs 0.5 oz. How may slices will make up 5 lbs of meat? 9 A car travels between two cities 550 km apart, at an average speed of 100 km/h. How long will its journey take? A car travels between two cities 350 miles apart, at an average speed of 60 mph. How long will its journey take? 10 An electric car has an electric motor rated at 100 kW, and is 90% efficient. How much power, in kW, arrives at the driven wheels? An electric car has an electric motor rated at 100 kW, and is 90% efficient. How much power, in brake horsepower, arrives at the driven wheels? Can it be done? It would be good to give the test (and prize money) to senior politicians (e.g. President Obama), as a way to let them know just how much time and money is wasted in the US working with imperial/USC measures. John F-L
