I don’t know why the U.S. gets shit for using the system that our colonial overlords forced us to use in the first place.
The only reason we’re still using it today is inertia. If we gradually tried phasing it out we’d have a lot more people on board with officially switching over to it versus the “ripping the band-aid” method of doing it all at once and causing culture shock to a bunch of ignorant Americans who haven’t done math since 8th grade.
According to my elementary /middle school-aged kids, it seems they are in fact learning the metric system in school. And this is in a red state in the south. 🤷♂️
~Check back in a couple of years and I can tell you what they’re doing in high school.~
Wow, that’s actually quite cool. Change will come from the ground up, imo. Good for them learning a better system. In another generation or two they will probably be the ones to spearhead the effort to do away with the old Imperial system entirely.
Metric has been a part of our science curriculum for a long time. There was even a push to change completely in the '70s until we figured out how much it would cost to do it. That’s why there are two liter sodas and why there’s one highway with kilometer markers instead of mile markers.
As for completely doing away with imperial, given that Europe hasn’t even entirely done that, it seems unlikely.
I don’t know why the U.S. gets shit for using the system that our colonial overlords forced us to use in the first place.
When America was colonized, the metric system did not exist. Saying that your “colonial overlords” forced it on you is silly - there were no better options at the time.
In fact, the metric system was created after US independence. So the US can only blame itself for not adapting it, unlike the UK which mostly adapted it.
“In 1793, Thomas Jefferson requested equipment from France that could be used to evaluate the metric system within the United States. Joseph Dombey returned from France with a standard kilogram. Before reaching the United States, Dombey’s ship was blown off course by a storm and captured by pirates, or strictly (British) privateers in the Caribbean, he died in captivity on Montserrat.”
The US has been close several times. Most recently in the late 1980s. But it was an uphill battle by then. We had layers of government and mature private industry that had decades of work in the old system.
Before that, the US had essentially the same issue. Retooling in industry. The US was an early adopter of industrialization. The only other country with a similar position was Britain. They only adopted it in the 60s. Most importantly, it was industry led and a hybrid system retained for the general public. It’s funny to realize that many US agencies like the NIST.
The US was the first to adopt a decimal coin system which is part of metrificsrion. But because everyone does it, we don’t think about it. On the flip side, no one adopted the metric calendar and there’s never been an attempt to meaningfully move away from the mixed base time system.
In the 1821, John Quincy Addams (at the time secretary of state) was told to give congress a report on the new metric system. He presented them a very detailed document, making comparisons between the two, but ultimately recommending the metric system.
…so detailed, in fact, that none of them bothered to read it and no decision was made. The treasury ended up taking the initiative on their own, and went with what everyone was already using.
This was barley 30 years after the constitution was ratified, and the report was made by a guy who’s dad helped to draft the damn thing. We don’t get to blame the Brits for this one. Our stubborn anachronistic measurements are entirely a Yankee phenomenon.
We almost were the first to go metric. But also, the problem is we tried switching at the same time as the other English speaking countries. The difference is their population didn’t resist as hard. Had we committed we probably would’ve wound up about where canada is now
I don’t know why the U.S. gets shit for using the system that our colonial overlords forced us to use in the first place.
The only reason we’re still using it today is inertia. If we gradually tried phasing it out we’d have a lot more people on board with officially switching over to it versus the “ripping the band-aid” method of doing it all at once and causing culture shock to a bunch of ignorant Americans who haven’t done math since 8th grade.
According to my elementary /middle school-aged kids, it seems they are in fact learning the metric system in school. And this is in a red state in the south. 🤷♂️
~Check back in a couple of years and I can tell you what they’re doing in high school.~
Wow, that’s actually quite cool. Change will come from the ground up, imo. Good for them learning a better system. In another generation or two they will probably be the ones to spearhead the effort to do away with the old Imperial system entirely.
Metric has been a part of our science curriculum for a long time. There was even a push to change completely in the '70s until we figured out how much it would cost to do it. That’s why there are two liter sodas and why there’s one highway with kilometer markers instead of mile markers.
As for completely doing away with imperial, given that Europe hasn’t even entirely done that, it seems unlikely.
this was said of the hippie generation (ie boomers) as well
One can hope! In the meantime, they’re happy to teach this old dog new tricks and that’s a start.
When America was colonized, the metric system did not exist. Saying that your “colonial overlords” forced it on you is silly - there were no better options at the time.
In fact, the metric system was created after US independence. So the US can only blame itself for not adapting it, unlike the UK which mostly adapted it.
“In 1793, Thomas Jefferson requested equipment from France that could be used to evaluate the metric system within the United States. Joseph Dombey returned from France with a standard kilogram. Before reaching the United States, Dombey’s ship was blown off course by a storm and captured by pirates, or strictly (British) privateers in the Caribbean, he died in captivity on Montserrat.”
The US has been close several times. Most recently in the late 1980s. But it was an uphill battle by then. We had layers of government and mature private industry that had decades of work in the old system.
Before that, the US had essentially the same issue. Retooling in industry. The US was an early adopter of industrialization. The only other country with a similar position was Britain. They only adopted it in the 60s. Most importantly, it was industry led and a hybrid system retained for the general public. It’s funny to realize that many US agencies like the NIST.
The US was the first to adopt a decimal coin system which is part of metrificsrion. But because everyone does it, we don’t think about it. On the flip side, no one adopted the metric calendar and there’s never been an attempt to meaningfully move away from the mixed base time system.
I believe the USA had a vote in 1975 to switch to metric and failed.
Are you talking about the Metric Conversion Act of 1975? That passed.
In the 1821, John Quincy Addams (at the time secretary of state) was told to give congress a report on the new metric system. He presented them a very detailed document, making comparisons between the two, but ultimately recommending the metric system.
…so detailed, in fact, that none of them bothered to read it and no decision was made. The treasury ended up taking the initiative on their own, and went with what everyone was already using.
This was barley 30 years after the constitution was ratified, and the report was made by a guy who’s dad helped to draft the damn thing. We don’t get to blame the Brits for this one. Our stubborn anachronistic measurements are entirely a Yankee phenomenon.
We almost were the first to go metric. But also, the problem is we tried switching at the same time as the other English speaking countries. The difference is their population didn’t resist as hard. Had we committed we probably would’ve wound up about where canada is now
IIRC metric is used extensively in scientific research.
Not true.
We use it when dealing drugs or making bullets, too.
bc americans never changed but the overlords did
Because nuance is useless when Europeans need to feel superior to us burgerlanders tm
Yeah I get it we suck but can we focus on what we actually suck about than nitpicking for bonus points?
Agreed