I recently hired (briefly!) a new 20-something handyman bloke for some
simple carpentry work in my properties. He was not cheap (charging over
double minimum wage), yet he couldn't measure in metric. On one job I asked
him to do, he had left his tape measure at home, so I lent him my
metric-only tape. "Where's the feet and inches?," he asked. I told him he
should be working in metric - which he couldn't do. The final straw was when
he phoned me to get him some additional wood items. When I asked him what
dimensions, he gave me a mixed-up mess of mm and cm (he did not understand
the difference), with his estimate of inches thrown in for (not so) good
measure. It was pure luck that I managed to get the right sizes (specified
in the store exclusively in mm), but I decided that I couldn't work with
someone who couldn't even properly measure simple items. A sad indictment on
Britain's current education standards.
John F-L
-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Vlietstra
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 11:08 PM
To: 'Michael Payne' ; 'USMA'
Subject: [USMA 77] Re: Fwd: SI units
A recent OECD report
(http://www.oecd.org/unitedkingdom/building-skills-for-all-review-of-england.pdf)
looks at the low rate of numeracy amongst 16-19 year olds in England.
England came 22nd out of the 23 with the United States at 23rd. Australia
was about half-way down the pack at 13th. What does Australia have that
England and the US lack? My guess is that they have made a full conversion
to the metric system. In the case of England, the metric system is taught in
the schools but the imperial system is used in the playground and at home
which results, I believe, in undermining numeracy in our young population.
If might be worth remembering the saying often attributed (wrongly I
believe) to Confucius: "That which I hear I will forget, that which I see I
will remember, that which I do I will understand".
Any comments?
Martin Vlietstra
-----Original Message-----
From: USMA [mailto:usma-boun...@colostate.edu] On Behalf Of Michael Payne
Sent: 29 January 2016 21:58
To: USMA
Subject: [USMA 76] Fwd: SI units
Interesting web site I came across today, has all SI units and appears to
originate out of Australia. Specifically using kilojoules for food energy
and kilograms for body mass.
https://theconversation.com/health-check-five-sweeteners-and-what-they-mean-for-you-14928
--
Cordialement,
Michael Payne
Lieu dit Gasquet
82400 Montjoi
France
+33 563 325 534
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