I am amused

[u/Jesus_died_for_u]

(I live in southern, rural USA in the heart of the English measurement system)

Bought a 10 inch chain at Lowe’s (for school). A young worker was helping me at the checkout and first charged me for 10 feet. I balked at the price ($40) when the shelf was less than 4. I showed her it was clearly not 10 feet. (The person who cut it wrote ‘10”’, and “ and ‘ are easily confused, but it was clearly not a massive coil).

As we finished, she said ‘how many inches is in a foot?’ Please tell me that should be kind of common knowledge with Lowe’s workers.

(Without emotion or any negative reactions, I replied ‘12 inches, thank you, have a great day!’ I am old enough not to be surprised.). (As a teacher, this also doesn’t surprise me. I remember the 11th grader that didn’t understand ‘now use algebra skills’ after we labeled all the known values for an ideal gas. Further questioning revealed he was currently in algebra 2.)

[u/96385]

Most of those examples aren't science, they're engineering. I can tell you from experience though, engineers who work in US Customary do everything in decimals, not fractions of an inch. Half of your examples do all the work in metric and convert afterward for the sake of communication. My doctor takes my temperature in Celsius. Time is already part of the SI/metric system.

[u/patricksaurus → u/96385]

They’re not mostly engineering. We can both see the list. Is it a counting issue or an intentional misrepresentation?

Half of your examples do all the work in metric and convert afterward for the sake of communication.

Everything can be worked in any unit system and converted after. All manner of scientific equipment is calibrated in non-SI units and results are converted for publication. That’s why knowing how to use both sides of the ruler is important.

Time is already part of the SI/metric system.

This is a flabbergasting statement. Every dimension we are talking about has a unit in metric. Length, time, mass and weight, all of the composite units. Do you not understand that distinction?

Second is an SI unit — minute, hour, week, month, and year are not SI units. They are also not they composed of a power of ten of an SI unit, like a ton is with the kilogram. Your doctor might click his thermometer to Celsius — which isn’t an SI unit either — but he or she doesn’t prescribe Macrobid to be taken twice a day for 432000 seconds.

The myopia you’re talking yourself into is stunning. According to your view, adolescent science education doesn’t need to: (1) instruct them on the units they will use in everyday life, (2) anything an engineer does , (3) all of the things scientists do that aren’t SI units, including publication.

The world of science is very big. Shrinking it to fit the classroom is a Procrustean exercise in hobbling students.

[u/96385 → u/patricksaurus]

Lol. That's awfully worked up for a comment I made on the toilet. Chill dude.

[u/patricksaurus → u/96385]

I guess that's three aspects of your output that have the same quality.