Posted by James R. Frysinger on December 27, 1999 at 18:08:07:
In Reply to: Re: Obsolete English Units posted by Tim on December 27, 1999 at 15:57:58:
> > I noticed that some of your public information is still using the obsolete English system of units. It is about time to drop the English units entirely, at least for all science and engineering. Americans are quite ready for exclusive use of metric units. It is a myth that we can't make the transition. Dual units are no good and just make it more confusing. Let's go all the way and get it over with. I want my 3 year old grandson to have to learn only one system--metric.
>
> Good luck! Since at least 90% of the US uses the "english system of units", I would say it's not "obsolete". Besides, the more your grandson learns, the better off he will be --don't censor his learning!
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- And at least 90% of the US also uses the metric system.
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- Scroll down to the first message in the thread "Miscalculation by NASA" (http://hubble.gsfc.nasa.gov/messages/401.html). Read the list. Then tell us you've never done any of that!
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- Sticking with inches and pounds is like doing all of our boatbuilding in cubits just because Noah did it that way. Change and progress imply doing things differently than you used to.
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- Since >95% of the world's people use the SI and at about 40% of American manufacturing and retail business is done in metric, I would say that inch-pound is going the way of the cubit.
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- A quick chronology of "The Metric US":
= 1810: (about) Thomas Jefferson arranged to have one of the 12 existing meter standards brought to the US,
= 1866: the metric system (as it existed then) was made LEGAL in the US,
= 1875: the US signed the Treaty of the Meter, establishing the organization (CGPM) that defines the metric system,
= 1893: non-metric units (inch, pound, etc.) in the US were redefined in terms of the metric units,
= 1960: the CGPM (which includes US representation) formally established the International System of Units (SI) and abandoned the previously existing metric systems,
= 1975: the US tried to metricate nationwide, but at that time the US dominated world trade (no longer true!), less of the world was fully metricated than is metricated today, and big business interests managed to get the effort de-funded.
= 1975: (about) the entire US automotive industry metricated,
= 1988: the US designated the SI as the PREFERRED measurement system and MANDATED that federal agencies and their business dealings be metricated.
= 1994: The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act was amended to require inclusion of metric units in package labeling; the Uniform Packaging and Labeling Regulation was soon amended likewise.
= 1999: in July, the Uniform Packaging and Labeling Regulation was amended allowing metric-only labels; 14 states automatically adopt it on December 31 of this year.
= 1999: Japan finished its last metrication program phase on October 1 and the UK finishes on December 31 -- THERE'S NOBODY LEFT BUT THE US, and
= 2009: At the end of this year, it will be illegal to import into the European Union anything that has quantity indications in non-SI units on its packaging, advertizing, inserts, or user directions. This is the third time the EU has delayed this to give Americans time to "catch up". Three strikes and you're out; don't ask for any more. This year's fourth-graders will leave high school and enter a metric job market.
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- So, how much time do you need in order to get the hang of it? If you're not over 55, you were taught the system in school; even those over 55 probably were.
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- I'm with Jim Sheetz. I want our kids to be educated for the future and not for the past. Maybe that's why we quit teaching horse-plowing in the schools.
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- NASA is a fantastic resource for educators in the teaching of many, many subjects (much broader than just "science"). The material is usually free and, except for the units of measurement in some materials, up to date. Don't you want the best education possible for your kids?
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