Metricked Off
Normally I’m all too content with the public education I received. I’m a firm supporter of public education in the United States. I recognize there are flaws in the system, and that the current school system often fails a remarkable number of young people, but I really believe in the philosophy of a society investing itself in the education of its young people. I believe that parents should be actively involved in their children’s education. It is my firm assertion that the schools exist to assist parents in teaching their kids, not the other way around.
All this said, I have to admit to being wildly disappointed in my inability to comprehend and function within the metric system, and I blame my American public school education . . .well, kind of. Deep down I know it's all my own fault. Laugh all you want, but it’s a lousy feeling. I feel somehow less intelligent than my European friends (and pretty much everybody else in the world) who know exactly how long 45 centimeters is without having to look at their hand span or do mental math. Because of my experience with sewing, and my intimate acquaintance with feet and yards as a result, I’m relatively comfortable envisioning a meter as about a yard, and knowing that a centimeter is 1/100 of a meter, I can figure it out, but it takes longer than I’d like -- a LOT longer . . . and usually involves a calculator or at least paper and pencil.
I’m overwhelming impressed with people who have a mental grasp of how far 17 kilometers is, especially if they’re not multiplying anything by .6 something or other under their breath. Mileage signs in kilometers give me a major headache. Compound that by trying to convert kilometers per hour into miles per hours, and my teeth start to throb.
I pretty much have a handle on kilograms – the math is easy – times two plus 10% of the result – I can go from kilos to pounds and back without any noticeable sweating or lip chewing. Only those who know me best would even notice the slight time gap required to do my silent calculations.
My greatest metric maelstrom is the whole Fahrenheit to Celsius thing. I mean, who thought of this system? Why do we even have Fahrenheit? What makes 98.7 degrees “normal”? How is 32 the perfect temperature for water to freeze? And there’s no rational, reasonable way to convert from one to the other. Don’t even start talking to me about the ridiculous formulas --- (F-32)5/9 or C(5/9) +32?????? Whaaaaat? Like I'm going to remember that? (I had to look it up to write this thing!)
When I’m cooking, it’s not so bad – I can roughly double the Celsius temps to get ballpark Fahrenheit temps, and after checking the actual conversions several times, I’m comfortable with the notion that 175 C is about 350 F and 225 C is almost 450 F. It works for me. But you can’t do that when you’re discussing weather temperatures. 7 C is NOT 14 F. Not even close. You can’t just add, either. 0 + 32 = freezing, but 22 + 32 does NOT = 71.6 degrees. Simple math won’t do it. 15 C is about 60 Fahrenheit, but 25 Celsius is only about 77 Fahrenheit. Meh. My teeth are hurting again.
I understand the basic need our forefathers had to express their independence and free themselves of the tyranny of taxation without representation, but did they really have to make such a drastic break and destroy my personal ability to communicate numerically with the rest of the world? It just doesn't add up!
All this said, I have to admit to being wildly disappointed in my inability to comprehend and function within the metric system, and I blame my American public school education . . .well, kind of. Deep down I know it's all my own fault. Laugh all you want, but it’s a lousy feeling. I feel somehow less intelligent than my European friends (and pretty much everybody else in the world) who know exactly how long 45 centimeters is without having to look at their hand span or do mental math. Because of my experience with sewing, and my intimate acquaintance with feet and yards as a result, I’m relatively comfortable envisioning a meter as about a yard, and knowing that a centimeter is 1/100 of a meter, I can figure it out, but it takes longer than I’d like -- a LOT longer . . . and usually involves a calculator or at least paper and pencil.
I’m overwhelming impressed with people who have a mental grasp of how far 17 kilometers is, especially if they’re not multiplying anything by .6 something or other under their breath. Mileage signs in kilometers give me a major headache. Compound that by trying to convert kilometers per hour into miles per hours, and my teeth start to throb.
I pretty much have a handle on kilograms – the math is easy – times two plus 10% of the result – I can go from kilos to pounds and back without any noticeable sweating or lip chewing. Only those who know me best would even notice the slight time gap required to do my silent calculations.
My greatest metric maelstrom is the whole Fahrenheit to Celsius thing. I mean, who thought of this system? Why do we even have Fahrenheit? What makes 98.7 degrees “normal”? How is 32 the perfect temperature for water to freeze? And there’s no rational, reasonable way to convert from one to the other. Don’t even start talking to me about the ridiculous formulas --- (F-32)5/9 or C(5/9) +32?????? Whaaaaat? Like I'm going to remember that? (I had to look it up to write this thing!)
When I’m cooking, it’s not so bad – I can roughly double the Celsius temps to get ballpark Fahrenheit temps, and after checking the actual conversions several times, I’m comfortable with the notion that 175 C is about 350 F and 225 C is almost 450 F. It works for me. But you can’t do that when you’re discussing weather temperatures. 7 C is NOT 14 F. Not even close. You can’t just add, either. 0 + 32 = freezing, but 22 + 32 does NOT = 71.6 degrees. Simple math won’t do it. 15 C is about 60 Fahrenheit, but 25 Celsius is only about 77 Fahrenheit. Meh. My teeth are hurting again.
I understand the basic need our forefathers had to express their independence and free themselves of the tyranny of taxation without representation, but did they really have to make such a drastic break and destroy my personal ability to communicate numerically with the rest of the world? It just doesn't add up!
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