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
