Comments on: Are our schools entrenching the very British mess?

By: Aus

Aus — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:09:19 +0000

Oh, and Australian mathematics teachers no longer teach kids imperial at all, though it is sometimes encountered in textbooks for junior years as a “historical curiosity” (not part of the curriculum). Some Australian kids do use feet for heights up to about 10 metres, and feet and inches for their own height, but this is not that frequent and describing something in feet will definitely get noticed in conversation.

By: Aus

Aus — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:04:56 +0000

I have to add, I have never lived anywhere but a metric nation (namely Australia and the former Czechoslovakia), and a request for 1500 litres of space would be met with just as puzzled looks in both of those nations as it was in the incident described. Though litres can be used for volume, this is usually exclusive to much smaller containers, about 60 litres max. Asking for 1500 litres of storage space is just asking for incomprehension.

By: Simon in Rio

Simon in Rio — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:36:27 +0000

I strongly believe that the use of the traditional English pint glass make drinking what are by the standards of the rest of the world, huge beer glasses is one of the causes of binge drinking. I Nottingham, at least, if a man orders a half pint, the barperson inevitably asks if you want a lady´s glass. Of course this is not the biggest cause of the British drinking problem, but banning glases over a certain size would be a good step and the 300 or 350 ml size would be a step forward.
It is also time to put kilometers on all road signs erected as of now. Ripping down the old ones would be prohibitively expensive to do all at once, but painting the km on many of them with stencils might even be done by schools as part of maths projects. Pity the old signs don´t state the units used e.g. “Kirkby-in-Ashfield, 7″. Stones are the worst, impossible to convert to kg or even pounds. Ask a new Yorker if a 9 stone man his height is overweight and he´d have about as much an idea as I do…. Both Gerrmans and French both use the word “pound” to refer to 500g, though this is mainly older or rural folks and in any case, they´ll end up buying 600g or so using kg scales. My brother even thinks you might get rid of some of the opposition to the Euro by calling it a “pound” in English.

By: Han Maenen

Han Maenen — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 14:04:36 +0000

The solution that Tabitha favours in in fact the solution that was imposed bij Napoleon in 1812 in France. Resistance to metrication in France was widespread and Napoleon was opposed to the metric system as well. His solution by the decree of 1812-02-12 was the establishment of metric for the professionals and the so-called Systeme Usuel, or Customary system, for the common people in the shop adn the street: ‘Accomodee au besoin du peuple’. It used the metre as standard, but then dividied it the same way as the yard is divided: 1 m = 3 feet, 1 foot = 12 inches. The pound of 500 g was also divided like its British avoirdupois counterpart. France lived through that muddle for 28 years and traders could cheat people at will. In 1840 January 1 France went metric for good, decreed by the metric law of 1837 July 4.

By: George Carty

George Carty — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:26:56 +0000

In Australia, Canada, South Africa etc, the anti-metric lobby didn’t have the anti-EU card to play…

By: John Frewen-Lord

John Frewen-Lord — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 06:12:06 +0000

Tabitha – that is not a solution, but is perpetuating the problem. Other countries – Australia, Canada, South Africa and many others – have successfully made the transition, particularly on their roads, so why can’t the UK? If children are taught to use metric as part of their everyday living, not just in the laboratory, that will speed up the process for everyone. Yes, there will be a few people who will have trouble making the transition, but I bet they are fewer than you imagine. Why should the country be held to ransom by those few?

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:59:15 +0000

Tabitha, I’m not sure if you have been on any building sites recently or worked with any safety equipment but all modern requirements for safety require metric labelling. Height, weight, safe working load, distance, etc are all provided in metric units. No one seems to have any problems working with this.

By: David Brown

David Brown — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:38:05 +0000

Tabitha Jones correctly identifies the issue of trying to have two incompatible measurement systems in the same country; but she fails to propose any solution (except that schools waste even more valuable time teaching both systems). As I said in my earlier comment, it is clearly not enough to teach metric measurement in schools and expect the system to “catch on”. Adults have a responsibility to re-educate themselves and to use metric exclusively in their daily lives. The government has key a role to play in leading this, but has, for 40 years, not faced up to its responsibilities.

By: Martin Vlietstra

Martin Vlietstra — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:16:32 +0000

Tabitha, we live in a society that practises cultural apartheid â€“ one system of units of measure for professionals and another for the person in the street. Why do you want to perpetuate that system?

By: Tabitha Jones

Tabitha Jones — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 17:05:05 +0000

It is fine for children to be taught to use metric for maths, physics and other scientific subjects. However they must be taught how to use the imperial system for general living, as it is more widespread in the UK. If kids today are taught their heights in metres only, when they leave school they will be stuck, the same going for road distances and weights.