Whom within USMA is most qualified to speak on this topic- perhaps, Mark Henschel? I could possible meet someone in Washington DC on April 10-11 but I am not informed enough to “present a proposal to promote greater transatlantic regulatory compatibility.”
Does the USMA have working groups and if so, do we have a FPLA group? Note: As a response to the statement that most American’s do not understand metric units and would be confused during consumption transactions. This is probably a true statement today; however, the new Common Core Standards in Mathematics and the Next Generation Science Standards both actively address the importance of learning the metric system. The Mathematics standards, according to the lead writers, takes an equal approach to measurement “systems.” Meaning, most concepts are taught in both “systems.” Better than before but not ideal. The material change in student learning of the modern metric system shall come when all sciences are taught exclusively in SI, which is a real possibility with the Next generation standards. (The next generation science standards have not been finalized but from my research I suspect that most schools will move to a metric-only science model, at least in the upper grades) Assuming the assessments (tests) align with the standards, then theoretically, 50% of math assessments and 100% of the science assessments would contain metric measurement units. At that point, children would hypothetically graduate from US K-12 schools with a solid understanding of the metric system, certainly enough to consume products. And of course, we could always point out that 2-liter bottles have NEVER stopped anyone from buying Coke :-) Bridget From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Sunday, March 10, 2013 11:38 PM To: U.S. Metric Association Cc: Robin Paice Subject: [USMA:52486] Re: Metric-only label meeting in Washington, DC --- help needed Ah, I forgot to add Robin Paice on the cc line. Please respond with Reply All so Robin is included in your response (to the email I sent below). Thanks again! Ezra _____ From: "ezra steinberg" <[email protected]> To: "USMA" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, March 10, 2013 9:36:10 PM Subject: Metric-only label meeting in Washington, DC --- help needed Anyone on this list able to help out with this request from the UKMA? (This message was sent today to the UKMA mailing list.) thanks, Ezra ============= Dear Colleagues: I am writing as a matter of urgency to draw your attention to a meeting in Washington DC, where it would be very helpful if the case for metric-only labelling could be presented as part of the removal of regulatory barriers issue. The details are at the bottom of the web page referenced below. It may be too late to get a hearing, but it may still be worth a try. http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/international/cooperating-governments/usa/jobs-growth/index_en.htm If any of you know anybody within range of DC who could attend, perhaps they could be alerted? I would like to think that NIST also have it covered, but it may be worth inquiring. Looking further ahead, I would suggest that you keep this issue on your radar. I hope there will be other opportunities to ensure that the issue is addressed. Robin Paice Chairman, UK Metric Association
