Americans in Great Measure

摘要

In my report to the USMA Board of Directors at NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg,MD, on World Metrology Day, 20 May 2019, I outlined what I consider to be the three barriers to US changeover to the metric system: 1. LACK OF METRIC EDUCATION: A co-worker of mine once nailed me with a truism: it's not enough to simply SAY we should go metric because "metric is easier." We need to teach it! In the US, the metric system suffers from contempt prior to investigation. The metric system of measurement must be taught as the FIRST measurement language in public schools, and free metric education should be offered to adults. Discussion of US public changeover to the metric system will remain fruitless until we plant and cultivate this crop of basic metric knowledge. For the few who think metric is too tough to learn, learning to use a smartphone is much tougher. Look about you--we conquered that.