Readers: The US Should Convert To The Metric System
The ham we’re serving my husband’s family tomorrow weighs just over 4 kilograms (4,0279kg), or 8.88 lbs in US/Imperial measurements. The instructions say to reheat it at 162.78ºC (325ºF). If we offered soda to drink we’d probably buy it in a 0.52834 gallon bottle (2 liters). They’re driving 155.62Km (96.7 miles) from Springfield IL, the speed limit on I-55 is 112.65kph (70mph), though his uncle will likely won’t exceed 90kph.
Of the above metric units you all likely can relate to a 2 liter bottle of soda, you know how much that is. Why? We’re used to it. Your prescriptions are in milligrams.
So why should America change?
The United States is the last remaining industrialized nation with no formal commitment to going metric. America’s position is causing unnecessary isolation. It’s an impediment to trade and puts the United States at a disadvantage.
Not being metric-fluent can hamper collaboration and communication across borders. And it’s not just annoying, but can add real costs. For example, many US manufacturers need to make two kinds of products for every item — one for here and one for there. Foreign manufacturers also have to modify products just for the US market (or decide that maybe it’s not worth the bother). (Vox)
Below are the results from the Sunday Poll:
Q: Should the U.S. switch to the metric system?
- Yes 14 [58.33%]
- No 9 [37.5%]
- Maybe 1 [4.17%]
- Unsure/no opinion 0 [0%]
Even though converting will be a costly endeavor, I think it’s in our best long-term interests to do so. Money spent building military equipment the Pentagon doesn’t want can be used to create to new highway signs. Of course that means every highway in America, except Arizona’s I-19, will get all new exit numbers. Had president Reagan not disbanded the Metric Board in 1982 we might be fully metric by now.
— Steve Patterson
. . . and you still believe in Santa Claus!
It makes the USA look stupid to continue to so rabidly cling to the US Customary System. Many American industries already use metric day-to-day due to ease of use and compatibility with suppliers/customers: automotive, medical, defense and some construction are but a few examples.
There are plenty of other things that make “the USA look stupid”, like having 9 guns for every 10 residents, number one in the world, by a wide margin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_guns_per_capita_by_country
We also have different electrical voltages, different emissions standards, different vehicular crash standards, a different form of government, different taxes and different cell phone standards. We speak multiple languages, as well. We seem to be doing pretty well, as outliers, in spite of these differences. It all boils down to cost versus benefit – what do we gain IF we decide to make some or all of the changes? It’s not that we “rabidly cling” to the existing standards, there just hasn’t been a good enough argument to make the change.
When my family landed in Pensacola airport last week, before driving 40 miles to Elberta, AL, my 9 year old son commented: “It always feels really good to be back in the US”….. a simple 9-yr-old statement, but the rest of us agreed. America’s a great place to live, which we’ve come to realize in the year we’ve been living in Germany. And because it’s such a great place to live, I think we don’t need to modify anything about America in order to blend more into the rest of the world. We’re unique….and uniqueness can’t (and shouldn’t) be qualified.
My car gets forty rods to the hogshead, and that’s they way I likes it!
I think you’re mistaken . . . . 40 rods = 1/8 mile, 1 hogshead = 63 gallons, so it’s taking you 504 gallons to go just one mile, or 0.001984127 MPG – that sucks!
If Canada, a country of low population density and lots of km per capita, can change to metric–so can we!
You still haven’t answered the fundamental question of “WHY”?! Just because “everyone else does it” isn’t a very good reason/answer. What will we truly gain? What will be our return on investment? Will it make us more competetive and more successful in the global marketplace? Much like how some countries continue to drive, successfully, on the “wrong” side of the road, compared to most of the rest of the world, different is not necessarily bad, it’s just different!