By Dain Maher Posted February 14, 2014
The Metric System is the most widely used system of measurement in the world. We must also take into account that there are only two official systems of measurement in the world; Imperial and Metric.
America’s creation of the Imperial system dates back to the days of British occupation in the 18th century. Because of the strong opposition towards British customs and practices, America did away with many traditions that were related to England when independence was attained in the late 1700s. Many of these customs still exist today in former British colonies, for example, tea time and garden parties; though the most prevalent of these customs was the use of the metric system.
The world has changed a lot since the 18th century and the United States of America and Great Britain are world-class superpowers and allies. The idea that we have to be different from Britain died out years ago and we still use the Imperial system and Britain still uses the metric system like most of the world. Since most of the world is using the metric system, why is America only giving us the most basic understanding of it?
If we aspire to be someone important in the engineering world, we must have more than a basic understanding; we need to understand the Metric System as well as, or better than, the Imperial system to understand other engineers’ measurements.
The United States tried unsuccessfully to make a complete switch to the metric system, although unsuccessful, it did require that metric units be placed second to the standard measure on all products in the U.S.
Their idea has always been in the back of the minds in Congress that the United States, one of only three countries in the world, make the switch to the metric system. It would be incredibly useful for many people to finally comprehend the units that the rest of the world uses.
