Is it time for the US to adopt the metric system?

[KarlXII]

Somebody bring me some freedom fries.

First the Metric System, next Bastardized Rugby, and then you'll be asking for Chips!

[Seamus Fermanagh]

GO on then, how many fathoms in a cable? Cables to knots? Arrrrrr......

[Hooahguy]

no, b/c wed have to change ALL our textbooks and stuff. cost billions.
just teach them the conversions and be done with it.

[Mikeus Caesar]

no, b/c wed have to change ALL our textbooks and stuff. cost billions.
just teach them the conversions and be done with it.

And then we'd have to spend billions changing all the textbooks to teach them conversions.

Easier to just bite the bullet and join the rest of the world. Sure, it's going to cost, but doesn't everything?

After all, if your dear country can afford to completely level Iraq and Afghanistan and then rebuild them, i'm sure you can afford some textbooks for the education of your own children.

[Lord Winter]

no, b/c wed have to change ALL our textbooks and stuff. cost billions.
just teach them the conversions and be done with it.

Most science textbooks are already in metric though, and a lot of industries use it too. Like it or not, metric is the international standard and we're probably paying more longterm for using the english system then we would to just convert over. And metrics already all around you, 2 liters at the stores, km on most speed dails in cars ect...

[Hooahguy]

Most science textbooks are already in metric though

not in the US.
of my 12+ years in school, i have never seen any science or math textbook use primarily metric. while i agree we should use metric, its not realistic. especially for the poorer schools.

[Strike For The South]

not in the US.
of my 12+ years in school, i have never seen any science or math textbook use primarily metric. while i agree we should use metric, its not realistic. especially for the poorer schools.

What state do you live in? In TEXAS we were taught both and were constantly tested. Or are you at a private school?

[Hooahguy]

im at a private school, and im happy for that, b/c Georgia's public schools are 2nd worst in the country.
i did learn metric, and was constantly tested on it, but it was independent of the text books.

@lord winter-
my chem books are also in metric, but thats b/c chemistry as a whole is in metric.
but what about the 1st graders book about the basic measurement units?

[Lord Winter]

Both of my chem textbooks (AP and regular) are in metric. I've done a metrics unit in every class since fifth grade, and we've been using metric for labs and what not since 8th grade. Math isn't really an issue, since it doesn't really matter what your units are, its more that you know what to do with the equations. Besides isn't there some sort of rule that schools should update there textbooks every X amount of years, there is in my state anyway. It won't hurt if we still have some english system texts still laying around for a while. Besides any serious science textbook is going to have to use metric since its a standard for the feild.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

This a a meter. You can find it at the rue de Vaugirard. And at several places throughout the city. Bring a rope to correctly measure its size and you too have entered the modern world. Add a zero, and you have ten. Another, one hundred. A thousand of these are a kilometer then. Etcetera. You can use your fingers to work it out. Likewise, for all other standards of measurement.
From Picardy to the Languedoc, from Spain to Russia, the legions of Revolution have spread the banner of enlightenment. Only three places yet resist Cartesian rationality: Liberia, Burma, and the United States. Soon, these lands too will bow to the standard imposed by Paris.

[Sarmatian]

no, b/c wed have to change ALL our textbooks and stuff. cost billions.
just teach them the conversions and be done with it.

That's why those things are done gradually. Textbooks get old, they get revised, they get some stuff added, some taken out...

Same with other stuff. Machines get old and you have to replace them eventually. Instead of buying a new machine that makes 12oz beer bottles, you buy the one that makes 0.33l bottles.

Basically, a law should be passed that everything has to switch to metric system in the next 10-15 years. That way economy can prepare adequately and it can be done painlessly and without great cost.

[BigTex]

I think the proper question is, "Is it time for the rest of the world to adopt the American system?".

[Mangudai]

I studied physics in college. It is almost impossible to do physics with English Imperial units. Pounds are a unit of force. What's mass? A slug. This is a unit that is never used in real life, but you have to mess with it to do physics, it's a nightmare.

To work on any American car built after 1980 you need two complete sets of tools, because half the bolts in an American car are metric. American mechanics probably like having two sets of tools, but why would a mechanic in any other country want to make that investment? Surely this is significant for American automobile exports.

Everybody in America under the age of 103 knows how to use the metric system. It's easy. They taught it in school back in the 1960's if not earlier. Most Americans have an intuitive feel for a meter, liter, kilogram almost as accurate as their feel for a yard, quart, pound. There are a few special units like a tablespoon that grandma will not want to switch to mL. That can stay, it doesn't matter. Goofy units will not be outlawed or anything, it's just that all official numbers will be in metric.

For a couple years I taught 8th grade science. Topics included measuring volume, computing density and so on. In the metric system 1 Liter of water has a mass 1 Kg, by definition. The kids couldn't get it, every time a brought it up they got totally confused. The kids who basically understood the concept of density went totally astray whenever I mentioned this definition. I also taught college physics as a TA for a few years, the students were mostly engineering majors at the University of Illinois at Urbana (very strong science/engineering school). A couple of times we had problems where they needed the mass of a certain volume of water. They all said "the problem doesn't give us enough information", I told them 1 Liter of water has mass 1 Kg, they were all like "Wow, Really?". Yeah that's the way the system is defined. They loved the metric system even more when they understood that. I can't help but think most of them probably were taught it in the 8th grade and absolutely could not grasp it at that time.

[rvg]

No. Why? Because screw 'em, that's why.

[Strike For The South]

No. Why? Because screw 'em, that's why.

this

[Tribesman]

1 Horsepower is based on an average of how much work horses at a coal mine did in one day.

Thats wrong since they din't use horses they had ponies and as a pony is 25 pounds that makes a pony a quarter of a ton but since a ton is 2240 pounds not 100 pounds its a good reason to turn metric .

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

No, It easier with our own system

[LittleGrizzly]

i.e. there is no real benefit in having the U.S. convert, especially considering the gargantuan price tag that the conversion would entail.

If you went out and bought all new equipment for the conversion and all new textbooks,and basically replaced everything using the old measurements today then it probably would cost a hell of a lot.... that is why these things are usually phased in over time, and i would say the real benefit is for everyone and anyone that has to work with measurements from different county's, which are the main people it affects...

No one is going to stop you ordering a pint or bragging about 12 inches of manhood (we still do both of those in britian today)

[Tribesman]

In all honesty, when it comes to everyday applications, the English system is on par and in some cases more convenient than the metric one, i.e. there is no real benefit in having the U.S. convert

Then why don't you use the english system then ?