Xanikk999
History junkie
For my 10,000th post i have decided to start another thread for old times sake.
Something i dont ever remember reading about on these boards.
So my question to you forumgoers is should the U.S who is currently one of the less than a handful of countries who havent followed the rest of the worlds lead adopt the metric system completely and why? You can describe how also if you want.
I say completely because the metric system is already used almost exclusively in the military and scientific fields here. It is also used in international fields that regularly deal with other countries.
I can think of several reasons why the U.S hasnt adopted it yet completely. Il list a few.
1. Well i'll be honest one reason the U.S doesn't like to be told to follow international standards or other peoples laws. This is just a minor reason but i very much doubt some traditionalists will allow the metric system to be put into place and certain people in congress would vote against any such measure out of national pride, which leads me to my other point.
2. Many people in the U.S don't like to be told to do something by the government. Crazy i know but some people would prefer to live out in the stix under their own law and never have to interact with the government. At the same time they dont want to pay more taxes BUT still want the government to provide public education, police, and social security but oh no we cant raise taxes to keep those things in place! So thats why you see the state of some services in some states deterorating because the federal government refuses to impose new taxes and leave it up to states to fend for themselves on some things. Poorer states like Mississipi suffer especially from this.
Im getting off topic though so il stop there.
3. The most important reason however is that people dont want to change to something that will be hard, costly, and require a complete restructuring of signs, billboards, and other things. Not to mention people will have to get used to learning and remembering metric units. Oh lets not forget people who are born using the U.S/imperial system of measurement will not be able to have a feel of a quantity of something in their mind for something in metric. They teach the metric system in public schools still at least when i was in school, its just a question of how much people in this country retain that knowledge. Most americans dont use the metric system on a daily basis.
Let me give you an example of that. If i say its 40 celcius most of the world would think: that is pretty damn hot. Now if you ask an american he would probably know thats hot if he has an education but if you ask most americans if 23 celcius would be a comfortable temprature they might not know. TBH i dont know what thats close to in farenheit so without looking on the internet il guess 50-60ish?
Now my opinion. I think we should adopt the metric system. It will streamline our international efforts further and make it easier to relate with the rest of the world on issues. Also we will avoid such troublesome scenarios like figuring out wether you need metric machine screws or SAE machine screws for fastening this device.
I work at home depot in the hardware department and let me tell you it would make everyones job easier, from the field of construction, to engineering if everyone used the same measurement system.
So thats my opinion whats yours?
Something i dont ever remember reading about on these boards.
So my question to you forumgoers is should the U.S who is currently one of the less than a handful of countries who havent followed the rest of the worlds lead adopt the metric system completely and why? You can describe how also if you want.
I say completely because the metric system is already used almost exclusively in the military and scientific fields here. It is also used in international fields that regularly deal with other countries.
I can think of several reasons why the U.S hasnt adopted it yet completely. Il list a few.
1. Well i'll be honest one reason the U.S doesn't like to be told to follow international standards or other peoples laws. This is just a minor reason but i very much doubt some traditionalists will allow the metric system to be put into place and certain people in congress would vote against any such measure out of national pride, which leads me to my other point.
2. Many people in the U.S don't like to be told to do something by the government. Crazy i know but some people would prefer to live out in the stix under their own law and never have to interact with the government. At the same time they dont want to pay more taxes BUT still want the government to provide public education, police, and social security but oh no we cant raise taxes to keep those things in place! So thats why you see the state of some services in some states deterorating because the federal government refuses to impose new taxes and leave it up to states to fend for themselves on some things. Poorer states like Mississipi suffer especially from this.
Im getting off topic though so il stop there.
3. The most important reason however is that people dont want to change to something that will be hard, costly, and require a complete restructuring of signs, billboards, and other things. Not to mention people will have to get used to learning and remembering metric units. Oh lets not forget people who are born using the U.S/imperial system of measurement will not be able to have a feel of a quantity of something in their mind for something in metric. They teach the metric system in public schools still at least when i was in school, its just a question of how much people in this country retain that knowledge. Most americans dont use the metric system on a daily basis.
Let me give you an example of that. If i say its 40 celcius most of the world would think: that is pretty damn hot. Now if you ask an american he would probably know thats hot if he has an education but if you ask most americans if 23 celcius would be a comfortable temprature they might not know. TBH i dont know what thats close to in farenheit so without looking on the internet il guess 50-60ish?
Now my opinion. I think we should adopt the metric system. It will streamline our international efforts further and make it easier to relate with the rest of the world on issues. Also we will avoid such troublesome scenarios like figuring out wether you need metric machine screws or SAE machine screws for fastening this device.
I work at home depot in the hardware department and let me tell you it would make everyones job easier, from the field of construction, to engineering if everyone used the same measurement system.
So thats my opinion whats yours?
