There is a way to get the US predominantly metric in 10 years. It
involves that sure-fire way of making progress in anything - money and
time.
The concept is quite simple, and consists of getting schoolchildren when
they are around 10 or 11 years old to make a simple choice: Embark on
their secondary education EITHER entirely in metric units (no
imperial/USC allowed AT ALL), OR involving a mix of both systems. To
'help' the young students make their decision, the following is the
proposed modus operandi:
1. The students must take a simple quiz (see table below for typical
quiz questions).
2. The students must choose to answer EITHER the metric version of the
quiz, OR the imperial/USC version. Once that decision is made, it cannot
be changed once they have seen the questions.
3. Their entire secondary school education from this point on will be
conducted according to which set of questions they answered - all in
metric if they answered the metric version, or a mix of metric and
imperial/USC if they answered the imperial/USC version (some metric
education is still necessary even in the US).
4. A prize of $1000 is offered to all students on completion of the quiz.
5. The prize is however reduced by the following formula: $5 for each
second of time taken to answer the questions, and $250 for each
incomplete or incorrect answer.
6. A bonus of $250 is added for those students who do not use a
calculator.
7. As the quiz is of very short duration (max. 4 min 10 s based on a
total of $1250 to be won and $5 per second penalty), each student will
be tested individually. This can be accomplished by each student
stepping outside of their classroom one at a time to sit at a small
table, where an invigilator with a stopwatch will hand the student the
paper with the questions. When finished, the invigilator will record the
time taken and immediately mark the paper (should only take a few
seconds), and tell the student how much money they have won.
8. The student will then step back into the classroom and inform the
class of the amount of their prize.
9. In addition to the prize money, those students who answered the
imperial/USC version of the test will have to undertake their education
of non-metric units during the school holidays. The alternative is to
give the metric students days off/supervised school outings while the
non-metric students undergo their imperial/USC education.
10. It will soon become apparent that those students who answered the
metric questions will have won far more money, and get more holidays,
than those who didn't, which will be plain to see for those students
waiting to take their test. That will I'm sure have a big impact on
their decision as to which version of the test to take.
11. In addition, it will also be apparent that not using a calculator is
quite achievable answering the metric version ($250 bonus, and likely no
extra time), but can only be done with the non-metric version at the
expense of time - which of course will erode the amount of the prize to
be won and will likely more than wipe out the bonus (i.e. the
imperial/USC test will only need take an additional 50 s to manually
calculate the answers before the bonus has gone).
12. After the first year, students will have the option of switching
from the mixed environment to the metric-only environment (but not vice
versa).
13. Multiple sets of papers will probably be necessary, essentially the
same questions but with different values, in order to prevent the early
students secretly passing the answers on to those yet to take the test
(possible even in a classroom environment - students can be quite
inventive).
14. All the principles and formulas required to answer the questions
will already have been taught the students, as well as all the necessary
conversion factors, which will all be required to be recalled from
memory.
In ten years, I predict there will be a majority of students who will
have been educated solely in the metric system, and who will likely want
to continue that way when they embark on their careers. That will create
huge pressures on both politicians and the business community for the US
to convert to SI.
The following are the questions:
Q# METRIC IMPERIAL/USC
1 A farmer has a 10 ha field to plow.If his plow is 5 m wide, how many
km will he travel in plowing the field? A farmer has a 20 acre field to
plow.If his plow is 20 ft wide, how many miles will he travel in plowing
the field?
2 A car has a metric odometer showing km and 10ths of a km.The driver
sees a sign saying speed limit 500 m ahead.How may 10ths of a km will
click round on the odometer by the time the speed limit is reached? A
car has an odometer showing miles and 10ths of a mile.The driver sees a
sign saying speed limit 1500 ft ahead.How many 10ths of a mile will
click round on the odometer by the time the speed limit is reached?
3 A room measures 5.75 m x 12 m.How many square meters of flooring are
required to cover the existing floor? A room measues 20 ft 9 in x 30
ft.How many square yards of flooring are required to cover the existing
floor?
4 A tropical fish tank measures 40 cm x 30 cm x 20 cm.How many liters
of water will it hold? A tropical fish tank measures 20 in x 15 in x 10
in.How many US gallons will it hold?
5 How many kilograms will the water in Q4 weigh? How many pounds will
the water in Q4 weigh?
6 An aircraft travels between two points 1200 km apart, at an average
speed of 800 km/h.How long will its journey take? An aircraft travels
between two points 1000 miles apart, at an average speed of 500
knots.How long will its journey take?
7 A carton of soup is shown to contain 500 mL.How may cartons will it
take to fill a 3 liter container? A carton of soup is shown to hold 20
US fluid ounces.How may cartons will it take to fill a 2 US gallon
container?
8 A slice of meat weighs 20 g.How many slices will make up 2.5 kg of
meat? A slice of meat weighs 0.5 oz.How may slices will make up 5 lbs
of meat?
9 A car travels between two cities 550 km apart, at an average speed of
100 km/h.How long will its journey take? A car travels between two
cities 350 miles apart, at an average speed of 60 mph.How long will its
journey take?
10 An electric car has an electric motor rated at 100 kW, and is 90%
efficient.How much power, in kW, arrives at the driven wheels? An
electric car has an electric motor rated at 100 kW, and is 90%
efficient.How much power, in brake horsepower, arrives at the driven
wheels?
Can it be done? It would be good to give the test (and prize money) to
senior politicians (e.g. President Obama), as a way to let them know
just how much time and money is wasted in the US working with
imperial/USC measures.
John F-L
