Why isn't the metric system the only system taught?

Tremonti

Fractal Fanatic
Why isn't the metric system the only system taught? I'm 42 and in Elementary school they told me that the metric system was coming and be prepared. Here we are, STILL using feet, pounds and the such. It is a disservice to science, math, human intellect and reason to have any other system. Talk amongst yourselves.....
 
Man I could never for the life of me understand why not....it just makes sense

I too was taught the metric system in school and over here we DO make use of it somewhat....

But I've gotten so used to estimating in feet inches lbs etc that the old system has also embedded itself in my day to day life

So now I know and constantly have to convert between metric and imperial.....it's a nightmare in work.....sometimes the measurements are in inches, sometimes mm, sometimes both :/

Worse yet, some spanners and Allen wrenches don't quite have equivalents so you always have to have both

I agree, we should just accept and use the logical metric system and move on....with ONE set of tools, and drawings LOLL
 
Why isn't the metric system the only system taught? I'm 42 and in Elementary school they told me that the metric system was coming and be prepared. Here we are, STILL using feet, pounds and the such. It is a disservice to science, math, human intellect and reason to have any other system. Talk amongst yourselves.....

Thanks to stubborn people with ridiculous conspiracy theories.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/...metric-system-by-john-bemelmans-marciano.html

https://time.com/3633514/why-wont-america-go-metric/
 
I've been promised by my elementary school teachers that by the time I get to high school, everything will be metric. I graduated high school in 1982!

I graduated grade 13 in 1983. In Canada we started learning the metric system in 1974, when I was in grade 4. All of our labelling, road signs, weather forecasts, etc. are all in metric. Thanks to our neighbours to the south not adopting metric, we’ve had to become fluent in both systems.
 
We as a human race are so creative and intelligent yet so dumb, primitive and unwilling to change....we'll forever hold back our own progress by going on proverbial witchhunts and trying to repress science and facts (yes that's you too 'flat' earthers!!)

Yep. Another case in point...the Robertson screw head and screwdriver. It was invented and patented by a Canadian, P.L. Robertson and when Henry Ford couldn't get his greedy little hands on the exclusive rights to it, he did everything in his power to make sure it was never adopted or used in the U.S.
 
If it was just the UK using Imperial the whole world would have switched over to metric by now. But when you have the most important country in the world persisting in using it and in the stuff that it makes the rest of the world is screwed. The number of times I ordered knobs for pots, only to discover thatbwhat I had ordered didn't. Or pickups with screw holes in Imperial while all my screws are in metric. Damn you, Yanks, damn you to hell!

Pick one system for the whole world and be done with it. Like VHS at the time. Metric of course, because Imperial measurements sound like gobbledigook to me.
 
I have actually opposite problem - born in metric, from the young years fan of motorcycles and it's mechanics (mostly russian and european oldtimers in early 90'ties) at 35 became an owner of first (dream) Harley.... There was absolutely no way, that I could let to do anything on my bike to others, so I had to complete a set of tools for imperial system (which was not worst); the worst was to learn and switch to imperial system for measurements - if measured 0.68" to convert it is 11/16"... Crazy... Metric system is really easier.
 
Science in the USA is taught in metric units. At least in California. My kids in school here learn in metric for all science-related courses. No one titrates in fractions of fluid ounces, thankfully. :)

And as much as Canadians go on and on about "we're all metric", if you ask a Canadian their weight you're more likely to get an answer in pounds than kilograms. They'll know their height in feet-inches too, not meters. The proximity to the USA and it's media and culture just makes knowing these two measurements in imperial units useful.
 
And as much as Canadians go on and on about "we're all metric", if you ask a Canadian their weight you're more likely to get an answer in pounds than kilograms. They'll know their height in feet-inches too, not meters.

Absolutely true...except for temperature and speed. 25 degrees celsius and 100 km/h, makes way more sense to me than it does in imperial units. Yet, MPG, makes more sense than L/100 km. As for units of measurement, feet, inches and fractions when using a measuring tape, but when it comes to travel distance, I prefer km's.

As Canadians, we also use 2-4's as a unit of measurement! 🍻
 
I wonder this same thing every time I need to adjust neck relief or string action. Measuring everything in millimeters is so much easier than by 16ths of an inch. I'm American but I have a hard time wrapping my head around imperial measurements under an inch. My PRS needs a 5/16 wrench to adjust the truss rod. Such a random number, my god.
 
The absolute best answer I ever got to the question "Why doesn't USA switch to metric?", was definitely this:

"Because then the football field wouldn't be 100 yards long anymore".

I kid you not... Btw, the correct term would be "hand egg".
 
Hundreds of years of tradition, I suppose.

I learned all the stuff in elementary school in the late 70's but since it wasn't used anywhere in practice, it didn't stick.

Imagine how many millions of living adults would have needed to learn this different system in America.

It's like saying, why doesn't everyone speak Esperanto ;)
 
As Canadians, we also use 2-4's as a unit of measurement! 🍻
Now you're talking my favorite unit of measurement! :D

But jokes aside, there are industry standards world-wide that are based on imperial that are upheld. You can buy a two-by-four in Canada and everyone refers to it as that and knows it's a piece of lumber that started its life as 2" x 4" before it was milled down to the 1-1/2" x 3-1/2" it actually happens to be. No one calls it a 38 x 89 mm board. :D

There are a handful of imperial units I've been unable to wrap my head around.

I can't do temperature in Farenheit. I have everything in Celsius still because it makes sense to me. I know that 15 is starting to get chilly and 30 is a nice, hot day. And at 20 I probably want a light jacket with me. No clue what 85 means. Or 70. I think things freeze at 32 in F units? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I can't do gallons. I have no idea what a gallon is, really. It's more expensive for a gallon of gas at the pump than I paid for a liter so I know it's bigger than a liter, but unclear on how much bigger. Someone selling me gas in gallons can really rip me off. :D
 
^ This. We're a lazy bunch and change is expensive and irritating, even when it's for the better. Metric is already the standard in important stuff like medicine and science.

We'd all have to give up our familiar measurements for just about everything guitar related. A Strat would then have a 647.7 mm scale length, 241.3 mm fretboard radius, and 0.254 mm through 1.1684 mm strings on it. Your guitar cables would have 6.35 mm plugs on them. That Celestion V30 would become a 304.8 mm speaker.
 
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