I daresay the car manufacturers are as metric as the kids, and expressed the data in kilograms and millimeters. I am not sure I found the same article, but I found two articles which are an interesting commentary on the UK press. They are stunningly similar although they claim two different authors, and one is entirely Imperial, the other entirely metric: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8845213/Plump-my-ride-luxury-car-makers-create-bigger-cars-for-fat-drivers.html http://www.iol.co.za/motoring/industry-news/plump-my-ride-cars-get-fatter-1.1163468 (the second is a South African source covering the same story)
--- On Mon, 10/31/11, Martin Vlietstra <[email protected]> wrote: From: Martin Vlietstra <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:51292] RE: What the Ward 4 School Committee candidates have to say: Michael Gendre To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Date: Monday, October 31, 2011, 4:42 PM An article in one of the British papers said that car manufacturers are having to take increasing personal body weight into account in their car designs. The average British male’s weight was 12st 6lb in 1995 as opposed to 13st 1lb in 2009. My question is how many students are able to express this increase as a percentage. Very few in the UK - How many in the US . (OK, I know that there is a catch for US students). BTW, all schooling in the UK is in metric units. Martin From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John M. Steele Sent: 30 October 2011 16:41 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:51291] What the Ward 4 School Committee candidates have to say: Michael Gendre This guy is a PhD, college professor, and school board candidate. He thinks, "In the global economy we must prepare our students for the skills required for the 21st century. Students need proficiency or above in the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, English, Mathematics). In addition to knowing how to navigate the Internet, students should know how to balance checkbooks, convert units to the metric system, etc." http://www.wickedlocal.com/beverly/town_info/government/x493115927/What-the-Ward-4-School-Committee-candidates-have-to-say-Michael-Gendre#axzz1cHddlHw5 Balancing checkbooks is good. But kids need to comprehend, measure in, and use the metric system, not convert endlessly between metric and Customary. The usual school conversion problems only teach kids to hate the metric system.
