President Gerald Ford signed into law US sanctions to convert to the metric system (Metric Conversion Act of 1975). Here we are in 2009, more than three decades later, still clinging to our pounds and our fluid ounces and our inches. Worse still, the metric system continues to be taught in nearly all of our middle school math classes as part of the state curriculum.
But what is it that we typically teach? We teach kids how to climb up and down the metric prefix ladder, converting metric units of measurement back and forth:
kilo
hecto
deca
deci
centi
milli
The thing that strikes me is that we don’t really teach the metric units that have become a part of our daily lives. When is the last time you read or used decaliter or decigram or hectometer? And yet, we don’t include the ones kids do actually read and use, like kilobyte, megabyte and gigabyte. I argue that states should pare the usual metric list down to the ones we commonly see and use. Here’s my list:
g, mg, kg, m, cm, km, ml, l, KB, MB, and GB
Outside of these, the rest are purely academic and therefore unimportant in daily life. They can learn the other more obscure metric units in college, should they pursue a career in science or math or engineering.
In addition to learning the metrics on my proposed lists, I would insist that they know basic mental equivalences, like:
- A gram (gm) is the weight of a Sweet & Low packet,
- A centimeter (cm) is roughly the width of your pinky nail,
- A half-liter (l) is approximately a pint,
- A kilometer (km) is about 5/8 of a mile,
- A meter (m) is a few inches longer than a yard, and
- A milliliter (ml) of water (or other similar liquids) has the volume of one cubic centimeter (cc).
When I did some cursory research of a dozen states, I couldn’t find a single state that included computer memory as part of their metric system curricula, yet this is often the daily language of kids in contemporary American society. When will state curricula catch up and reflect the metric knowledge and skills that are actually pertinent to today’s kids?
If we’re going to continue to mandate the study of the metric system in our middle schools, let’s at least stick to the metrics that kids are exposed to and ought to know and let’s forget about the esoteric likes of the others. dven.
July 5, 2009 at 4:04 pm |
You know, I wish I wouldn’t keep clinging to my personal pounds and inches! But all joking aside, the metric system makes so much sense. And I can’t, for the life of me, figure out who’s lobbying to keep us from converting…
July 6, 2009 at 6:31 am |
I have to say you make a valid point! I was taught the same exact thing you referenced as is relates to the education of metrics. We lack the real applicable knowledge that is necessary for every day life. I didn’t know what a GB was until I went to college, that is a shame. I will definatley look at ways to better educate and equip our students for the common use of metrics.
July 7, 2009 at 9:41 pm |
I remember Mick Jagger’s brother, Chris, had a song that was titled something like “Stand Up For the Foot” which was all about keep the olde English measurement system. Unfortunately, in an increasing closer world it’s time the US joined the metric system. We need to bite the bullet and change everything immediately to metric. The old folks may complain (I’m one of them), but the young ones will grow up metric and they’re the ones we’ll be handing the reins over to in the future.
July 16, 2009 at 6:30 pm |
When I was in 3rd grade, we were told the future would be metric. when we learned Base 2, it was because we would be needing it for the computers we would someday use.
I don’t want to tell you how many years ago all that was, but I am amused now that the good ol’ USA is the only country still using “standard” measurement. Whatever “standard” could that be???