from my personal experience, learning us custom after metric is not a problem at all (but using it is much less convenient than metric system)
what worries me the most is that US custom system doesn't develop a habit and skill in kids (and adults) to do calculations and scaling in their heads. for example, if a child has a cat at home and knows that the cat eats half of cup of dry food every day. How much food will be needed if the family has 10 cats instead of one? Kids in the rest of the world would find it fun to estimate - they would not need a calculator - if a half a cup of dry food is 60 g, 10 cats need 0.6 kg of food daily. And how much dry food a cat shelter with 100 cats needs a day? answer is 6 kg. US custom: if a half of a cup is 4 oz, 10 cats need 40 oz, how many pounds(or gallons?) it is exactly? if you use calculator, how long will it take to convert from decimals in the result from calculator to ounces? I feel responsible that my daughter doesn't have a habit and skill to do math in her head and can be easily embarrassed in front of foreign kids. I believe that burden of US custom system kills all the fun of calculation/estimation/scientific thinking/math in kids even before they start middle school. It is not only about knowing how to convert, but also about not having fear to do so and doing it quickly and easily. Natalie ________________________________ From: Kilopascal <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2013 9:05 PM Subject: [USMA:53236] Re: \"Math Conversion-Metric System Help!,\" Cries a Nursing Student Mark, It is often said that American students are taught the metric system in school. Yet, I have yet find proof of it. If the metric system is taught, when is it taught and how is it taught? My understanding is that it is not taught in the same manner USC is taught. USC is ingrained in the students head and by the time metric is taught American students are fully functional in USC. Metric if and when taught is only taught by conversion. Students are taught not how to measure in metric units but are taught to convert metric to USC. A proper understanding of the metric system is never developed in Americans so when it is encountered it ends up being a panic situation. So without a background in metric is it any wonder that there is no interest in science and technology among today's teens. You may find the article of interest. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/teens-losing-interest-science-tech-100000227.html [USMA:53236] Re: "Math Conversion-Metric System Help!," Cries a Nursing Student Henschel Mark Tue, 10 Sep 2013 17:54:31 -0700 Here is my contribution: The real problem here is that this student was not exposed to the Metric System in fourth grade, or fifth grade or sixth grade or basically not any time in any significant way until she got to nursing school. There the emphasis was on conversion. Of course she is confused. This does not happen in metric countries. The Metric System is not a conversion, but a complete system which, when used by itself, is extremely easy. We clearly need much more metric education in our middle schools and high schools, so students will learn to "think metric" and not think of the Metric System as something that needs to be converted from or to. Ninety six percent of doctors and nurses around the world use the Metric System only, with no use of inch-pound units at all. Body mass index is much easier in the Metric System, just take your mass in kilograms and divide by your height in meters squared. No conversions necessary. And for temperature, remember the poem : "30 is hot, 20 is nice, 10 wear a coat, 0 is ice". Much easier than all that multiplying, dividing, adding and subtracting from Fahrenheit.
