We Are Still Fighting the Metric System

This article was printed in 2000 but it still is current in terms of the American view of the metric system. This article gives the history of the US and its efforts to change to the metri... See More

This article was printed in 2000 but it still is current in terms of the American view of the metric system. This article gives the history of the US and its efforts to change to the metric system. The article discusses the issue about the difficulty of learning the metric system, why we should change or not, as well as the benefits from adopting the metric system. With all of this said we as American are entrenched in our belief that we can change the world or the world will change in our direction. Who is correct?

Why Not??

The Article “Say YES to Metric” Was very informative , I knew that there was a political reason for why we did not use Metric as a standard but did not know the details behind it. I find ... See More

The Article “Say YES to Metric” Was very informative , I knew that there was a political reason for why we did not use Metric as a standard but did not know the details behind it. I find it interesting that the reason is plain and simple because we don’t want to. I for one do not think that metric is harder than our standard measurement. I agree that if we want to be a leader in the world that will need to get on the same playing field. We also need to get over the fact that we want to be different just to be different and move on. Students would be better prepared for Science, Social and STEM jobs if we were to make the move. The younger the better, starting in Pre- K by using the language and then move up in grades and focus measuring on the metric system within just a few years kids would have it down. I understand that change is hard, I HATE change but we are getting in our own way and it is only hurting us. Business should be the first ones to support this as it would make trade and business with overseas companies faster and easier. The money that would be lost in making the changes would be made up within months of doing business. The cost of changing signs, adding to textbooks, teaching the new format greatly outweighs the ignorance we show as a nation when we are not using the same measurement as the rest of the world. In closing I agree with the persons who want us to change over to a metric union, I believe that it would make thing less confusing and give us a one unified way to measure when completing tasks and projects. Kathryn Smerker Life Science Class- Science Endorsement 10/19/14