Did you learn the metric system when you were in elementary school?

[carlyhippy]

I was in elementary during the 70's. Every year my teachers would try and teach us, but interest was lost pretty quickly.

[TZ]

1. Yes, and I even use it almost every day too.

And yes, I am an American. But everything in the lab is done in the metric system. Its really quite convenient. I'm all for EVERYONE using it all the time to get us in sync with the rest of the world.

[LeftinOH]

2. Sort of: We "learned" metric conversion (metric to Imperial/whatever and back);

it was dreadful, since calculators weren't permitted (and they were too expensive for most of us anyway). But it was necessary -we were told- because the "entire country will be converted to the metric system by 1985." :grr:

[femmocrat]

3. Not in elementary.... maybe in junior high.

I did learn it and it wasn't difficult. But since I never need to use it, it was quickly forgotten.

[Tripper11]

4. I did..grew up in Canada in the 70's

So we did the switch, while the US did the bait and switch!
I grew up with both essentially. I was able to think in both ways, kind of a bilingual if you will. Having lived in the US for the past 12yrs I have lost it somewhat, but whenever I go home, it comes right back to me.
Kind of like my french. I don't realize how much I really know, until I need it.

[raccoon]

5. We were still measuring in cubits when I was in elementary school. nt

[HopeHoops]

6. Early 70's here - they sort of tried by 4th grade and definitely in middle school.

I think the real problem is a split system. If they only sold gas in liters, you'd start thinking that way. Soda is about the only thing I can think of that's gone full metric (2-liter bottles) outside of the medical community. Milk is a natural, 1, 2, and 4 liter jugs. It would take a minor adjustment to the container manufacturing, but they did it with soda bottles. When you buy something that says XX OZ / YY liters, nobody pays attention to the latter because it is fractional. Reverse that for a while to get people used to it and then drop the ounces from the label.

[Seneca]

7. Yes

I even had a Metric System lunch box, lol. The classic 70's metal kind, with thermos and all.

It helped that during the metric system, um, 'craze', I lived overseas where we used it every day.

[One_Life_To_Give]

8. Some parts of it

I think I learned it far better during Thermodynamics class. Many problems involved constant switching back and forth between systems.
Although to this day I do not have a good "feel" for how many Newtons an object should weigh or how many Pascal a floor should be designed to support.

[bif]

9. I still haven't learned it!

Still stuck in the English system.

[MorningGlow]

10. Yes, but it was taught halfheartedly, so we learned it halfheartedly

And forgot it promptly, when the educational system gave up on it.

[zipplewrath]

11. Yahbut

I was in a catholic school and "elementary" went through 7th grade. We got exposed in 5th, and when I went to 8th grade in the public school, I got it again in our "science" class which I later referred to as "introduction to the metric system". It was a terrible science class and I think we basically spent the first 8 weeks just learning the metric system.

[Kali]

12. the whole idea of converting or "teaching a new system" is so stupid

you just need to decide to do it. how long before you know what a liter is or can estimate how many kilometers it is to the next town if that is what you are using every day? we are ridiculous

[Iggo]

13. Yep. 1970's.

Didn't really use it until I started smoking pot, though.

[MiddleFingerMom]

14. It wasn't 'til just after high school that I started thinking of some of the things in my life...

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...in terms of grams.
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And "lids".
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Are "lids" metric?
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Sincerely, MiddleFingerDinosaur
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[gratuitous]

15. Took almost an entire day that I'll never get back

Fortunately, the weeks we spent learning the English system, as well as leagues and rods and chains and all the rest of that folderol were well-spent.

When I'm proclaimed maximum leader of these here United States, I will announce on Friday that we are going metric on Monday. Malcontents will be executed on Tuesday, and universal peace will spontaneously break out on Wednesday.

[TheMightyFavog]

16. Was in grade school from theMid-80s-early 90s

We learned the metric System from our Heath Math textbooks. Hated it until High School when I found that converting between units was much, much easier. Now I feel that The U.S. need to join the rest of the world in adopting a system of weights and measures based on sound scientific principles rather than something as arbitrary as the length of a long-dead English King's foot.

[applegrove]

17. In Canada we went metric while I was in about grade 3, so we learnt all about

the metric system but I have no understanding of the metric for height and weight. I still use the American measures for those two.

[quickesst]

18. Yes.....

... but as today, except for the "we have to be as sophisticated as the Europeans" crowd, it was a simple curiosity. Our standard has served us well, and whether measured in meters, feet, yards, kilometers, area, or whatever, the measure is still the same. Conversion=waste of time, energy, and resources. Thanks.
quickesst