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

There was a push back in the 90s to adopt the metric system in California (at Caltrans). They ran into issues because the life of some projects is so long; 10 years or more, and they were using both systems in design and at construction. It was too cumbersome to have state employees and contractors switching between the two systems. And then you'd have someone convert between feet and meters and use the international foot instead of the US Survey foot and have to redesign everything. It was just too easy for a dishonest contractor to find and create backcharges, so they just went back to US Survey feet. And I was left with a bunch of bright shiny almost new and worthless (to me) metric tape measures.
 
US engineers are taught to work in both, and know common conversions from memory. Still, if I had to choose only one, I'd choose metric.
 
Both these systems can be likened to languages. Consider a language like English with its dominance in the web and airline industry for example. It’s a great language for everyone to speak and understand each other. It bridges a great divide. Very much like the metric system. That’s not to say that there aren’t other languages that might be able to describe things with more clarity or make them more human similar to the Imperial System.

The foot. There is beauty in it because it describes the size of a man’s boot. Even kids understand this. It can be divided in half, thirds, fourths, and sixths very easily. A meter, not quite as easy to divide unless you crave talking in decimal points.

Temperature. How’s the weather outside? A nice 70F! ...Not 21.5C. That’s just silly. The good old F has more usable range for our human body and guitars than C ever will.

Time. Ahh... the kilo-second does exist! Then why don’t you use that when inviting your girlfriend/wife on a date? Is 12/24 so difficult to divide by 10?

The above are just a few examples of items we use day-to-day that have more color in the imperial system than metric. The metric system is a wonderful system, especially when you are working with the sciences, it makes us all share a common language for the greater good. That doesn’t mean there might not be more expressive ways to say the same things, more human ways. Things we use everyday, and not necessarily with a lab coat on.
 
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Stratman68 said:
Very simple reason-the 1%-in the USA have too much invested in crap with inch, yard, etc built in and they won't dare lose a dime by going to a system that actually makes sense-Just my opinion of course! Kind of reminds me of Daylight Savings Time.....Farce!
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Move to Tubac, AZ. I-19 has metric speed and distance signs....

Edit: Oh, almost forgot. With exception of the Navajo Reservation, no DST in AZ.... :)
 
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I just turned 35, we learned metric in elementary/middle/high school. It's not used, but we used it in science and math and while we 'use' the other system, we learned and used metric the whole time
 
biskitboy said:
Both these systems can be likened to languages. Consider a language like English with its dominance in the web and airline industry for example. It’s a great language for everyone to speak and understand each other. It bridges a great divide. Very much like the metric system. That’s not to say that there aren’t other languages that might be able to describe things with more clarity or make them more human similar to the Imperial System.
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Thing is, Imperial doesn't bridge a great divide, it creates one. The world used to be full of different standards. Hell, even countries used to be full of different standards, with nearby medieval cities using different standards. This is why when central governments came about they found it useful to abolish local standards and impose one standard on everyone. So you would know your kilo of fruits and vegs you bought in bumf*** would be the same as in nipplestan. Having one standard facilitated trade and is probably one of the things that helped bring about the modern world we know today. Not to mention that it also facilitated governments to properly tax their citizens.

As for language, when you say this person is 5 foot 8 and this wrench is for a 4/18 nut, to a metric person you're basically talking Sanskrit. Cause like I said, you Anglo Saxons are taught both systems, us metric people, we're only taught metric. And when you talk Imperial I basically have to whip out Google translate.

The foot. There is beauty in it because it describes the size of a man’s boot. Even kids understand this. It can be divided in half, thirds, fourths, and sixths very easily. A meter, not quite as easy to divide unless you crave talking in decimal points.
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It makes sense to you, because you grew up with it To a metric user foots are useless because everyone's feet are different in sizes. That's why ordering shoes online is a friggin' nightmare. So your agreed upon measurement of a foot is as arbitrary as my meter. Except my meter (to me) makes perfect sense. Its all about divisions and multiplications of 10. Which just so happens to be the number of fingers a person has. See, body measurements as well.

Temperature. How’s the weather outside? A nice 70F! ...Not 21.5C. That’s just silly. The good old F has more usable range for our human body and guitars than C ever will.
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Don't get me started on that stupid Fahrenheit scale. 0C, things start to freeze, 20C is when things are nice and comfy outside and the ladies start putting on their mini skirts again, 30C not so nice anymore (the Netherlands is way too humid for high temperaturs). 37C my body temperature and when things become really unbearable outside. 100C when my water boils so I can boil some eggs. It all makes perfect sense. All I know about Fahrenheit is that 100F is body temperature. Which too me sounds scarily high.

Time. Ahh... the kilo-second does exist! Then why don’t you use that when inviting your girlfriend/wife on a date? Is 12/24 so difficult to divide by 10?
Time is probably the odd exception, I agree but then again time is already screwed up anyway because of the time the Earth takes to revolve around the sun.

The above are just a few examples of items we use day-to-day that have more color in the imperial system than metric. The metric system is a wonderful system, especially when you are working with the sciences, it makes us all share a common language for the greater good. That doesn’t mean there might not be more expressive ways to say the same things, more human ways. Things we use everyday, and not necessarily with a lab coat on.
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Metric is perfectly fine for the vast majority of the world. If I never EVER have to use Imperial again I'll die a happy man. It cost me way too much money having ordered parts that didn't fit because of stupid Imperial measurements.
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mr_fender said:
Hey now... It's taught in schools, used in many industries, and most importantly of all Mountain Dew has been available in both 2 and 3 liter bottles for decades.
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Looking back this one puzzles me. I grew up in the 80s too and heard how we’re all going to be metric. The liter and 2-liter caught on for some reason. I wonder why. After all, a liter is pretty much a quart, right? So I buy a 2-liter of soda but a gallon of milk.
 
biskitboy said:
I'm going to enjoy my cup of coffee this morning with a couple teaspoons of sugar.
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Oof. Coffee 'cups' being 4 ounces instead of the standard 8 is an interesting quirk, innit? I make half of a 12 'cup' pot of coffee so we can have two 15 ounce mugs of 'vitamin c' with (or sometimes as) breakfast....
 
Probably because the same people who think wearing a mask is a violation of their civil rights, the anti-vaccine crowd, and the second amendment nuts would all say the metric system is anti-American, socialist, leftist, et al.

Way too much ignorance, nationalism, racism, and frankly just plain stupidity to ever see something used the world over like the metric system flying in America right now.

I mean come on, we’ve got a bunch of creationist in Texas trying to ban teaching about evolution in biology classes.....

do you really think those same folks are going to be okay with the same unit of measure they use in....China!....gasp
 
lqdsnddist said:
Probably because the same people who think wearing a mask is a violation of their civil rights, the anti-vaccine crowd, and the second amendment nuts would all say the metric system is anti-American, socialist, leftist, et al.

Way too much ignorance, nationalism, racism, and frankly just plain stupidity to ever see something used the world over like the metric system flying in America right now.

I mean come on, we’ve got a bunch of creationist in Texas trying to ban teaching about evolution in biology classes.....

do you really think those same folks are going to be okay with the same unit of measure they use in....China!....gasp
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It's beyond sad how true this is...
 
Muad'zin said:
this wrench is for a 4/18 nut,
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Firstly, that size would not be used because it isn't a "reduced" fraction... If such a thing actually existed it would be called a 2/9... But there's no division by 9 here - it's powers of 2 (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64).

Muad'zin said:
you Anglo Saxons are taught both systems, us metric people, we're only taught metric. And when you talk Imperial I basically have to whip out Google translate.
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Sorry, but not really.

I don't have a realistic concept of a kilometer or a kilogram.

I learned imperial stuff from birth and was "taught" metric in elementary school. But practical use of it was so limited and only really applied practically in science and math. If you're in the US and not in a related field you probably never use metric in daily life (ok, and maybe mechanics since they work on imported vehicles ;))

It's all translation... If I need to know how long a kilometer is, I would translate it to feet or fractions of a mile.

I took Spanish for 4 years in school. It doesn't mean I think in Spanish or could even really converse using it. It means I was able to translate it...
 
unix-guy said:
It's all translation... If I need to know how long a kilometer is, I would translate it to feet or fractions of a mile.

I took Spanish for 4 years in school. It doesn't mean I think in Spanish or could even really converse using it. It means I was able to translate it...
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When you live with it you stop translating it. I don’t translate a mile to a kilometer in my head now. Not a pound to kilograms. You can adapt.

Same for language. If you immerse yourself in it you’ll eventually stop translating it in your head. French was that way for me.
 
lqdsnddist said:
Probably because the same people who think wearing a mask is a violation of their civil rights, the anti-vaccine crowd, and the second amendment nuts would all say the metric system is anti-American, socialist, leftist, et al.

Way too much ignorance, nationalism, racism, and frankly just plain stupidity to ever see something used the world over like the metric system flying in America right now.

I mean come on, we’ve got a bunch of creationist in Texas trying to ban teaching about evolution in biology classes.....

do you really think those same folks are going to be okay with the same unit of measure they use in....China!....gasp
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Great points my friend!
 
We were taught both in school when I was little. I was heavy into science, so it was pretty much metric all the way. My first BS degree was in civil engineering, so not only was I back to imperial units, but weird units that nobody uses. Then I was in biochem, which was back to the sciences and back to metric. For stuff we build at work, we'll have parts that are all designed and machined using imperial, but then all metric fasteners, bearings, etc. I really don't care at this point, because I'm fine with either.

What I really don't have a handle on, after all this time though, is temperature. If someone tells me a temp in celsius, I have to really think about it. The extremes are easy, likes, "oh, the processor shouldn't be 90C", or what 0C is like. If someone tells me that it's warm today, it's almost 36C, I have to think on it to know what they consider warm.
 
I am a Viet Nam vet, just so you can approximate my age. MAth has always been a breeze for me. Still is.
I have no doubt, even at my age I could switch right now to the metric system and adapt very easily.
@lqdsnddist points above in post #53 are spot on-How sad.
 
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