Paul, >From what I gathered, referring to it as "Foreign" in the sense of "not American" was only done by a couple students. And I have the feeling that the rationale of the metric system being seen as foreign was imposed from the top down by those people's own parents :).
The rest of the students who thought of it as foreign I think were thinking more along the lines of "weird" or "different". Although the students who asked the questions about what a kilometer was all seemed to be confused as to why they had to learn a measurement system that the US (at least to their eyes) doesn't use. A few of the older, more experienced people in the classroom used the "I remember when they tried that back in the 1970's and it never took hold" story as the basis for their reasoning of why it never would. In talking to them afterwards, they saw that effort in the 70's as the last ditch movement of the world pulling the US in the direction of the metric system, and saw the fact that it fizzled as evidence that the US would remain on the US Customary standard forever. As someone in the class later put it: "They only had one chance to try and change our way of thinking on the way we measure, and they blew it. Now we've had such a long run of inches and feet that to convert back would be unthinkable. Back then we were open at least a tiny bit to the possibility, but now we're comfortable with what we have and there's no need for change". I'm still very impressed with the civilized nature of the discussion so far. We haven't had any outright hostility and it's been very interesting to see people's reaction to it across different age groups and professions, whether they're the young college student like me or the forty something with two kids in high school who does carpentry for a living. Mike On Jan 17, 2008 9:59 AM, Paul Trusten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Foreign?? > > Sitting here thinking, I find it interesting that nationality rears its > head in a physics classroom. Did someone in the class actually say > "foreign," in the sense of "European" or "Asian?" If so, their > prejudice wasn't based only upon the unfamiliar, but also upon some > lurking notion of nationality in the metric system. Mike, to what extent > was that the case? > > Paul > > Michael Palumbo wrote: > > > Did you politely explain to them that we do use the metric system on a > > daily basis? Or do they all live in shacks in the woods with no > > electricity? ;) > > > > It always makes me laugh at how many Americans shy away from anything > > considered "foreign", as though we're not all foreigners in some way. > > I think the latest statistic I read was that only 19% of Americans > > even had passports, and of that group, only a small percentage had > > ever used them to go overseas. > > > > -Mike > > > > Mike Millet wrote: > > > >> Paul, > >> > >> Yes this is a college level course. I'd say about half of the class > >> out of probably 60 students raised their hand when he asked how many > >> had never heard of or used the terminology of the metric system. > >> > >> Some of them vaguely remembered something from grade school, although > >> a couple who had even done track where all distances are in meters > >> said that their coaches had them run the distances in feet and > >> competitions were called in feet despite it being a 100m dash or > >> whatever. > >> > >> I'm still not quite sure how they avoided hearing about it all these > >> years. Either they never watched any Olympic sport or never took a > >> science course. > >> > >> There wasn't any active hostility in the class to the policy which I > >> take as a good sign, although several students did mention afterwards > >> that they didn't get why they had to learn a foreign system that they > >> would never have to use on a daily basis. > >> > >> > >> Mike > >> > > > > > > > > > > -- > Paul Trusten, R.Ph. > Acting Secretary > The Pharmacy Alliance > Midland TX 79707-2872 USA > +1(432)528-7724 > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ThePharmacyAlliance > > > > > -- "The boy is dangerous, they all sense it why can't you?" (\__/) (='.'=)This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your (")_(")signature to help him gain world domination.
