On Wednesday 03 October 2007 17:26, James Scott Hudnall wrote: > It is the stated goal of the ASCE and the ASTM to move toward the use > of metric. Perhaps you can find information on their websites.
Good point. The soil test is ASTM D698, and one of the students did a presentation about different methods of drying soils, all in metric. IIRR he was the Nigerois, who speaks both French and Hausa. (I don't speak Hausa, but I asked him in French if he speaks Hausa.) This same student was one of those puzzling over the pounds and cubic feet in the formulas. But that leaves the personal problem. If the professor ignores an email asking him to teach in metric (and I know he reads his email; I misplaced my calculator and sent him one saying I thought it was stolen and another saying I had found it), who do I talk with? There are at least two Francophone Africans, a Thai, and someone who visits Brazil, all of whom must be familiar with the metric system, not to mention that grams and liters have been on grocery shelves for decades, but I doubt petitioning students would do much good. Pierre
