Teaching Comparative

A break from soft power

A metric system, first made official in revolutionary France, seems to have been a political football (meterball?) ever since. Scientists use metric systems almost exclusively. (I remember using feet and tenths of feet on my first archaeological excavation.) However, cultural conservatives and commercial interests have argued loudly and often successfully to preserve traditional measurements.

Thirty years ago, the metric rationalists seemed to have gained the upper hand and even in the US people saw km/hr speed limit signs, learned that a dime (part of a metric system) weighed about a gram, and that a meter was about a yard long. In 1977, the NCAA sanctioned a Division III metric football game between Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges here in Northfield, Minnesota.

But the enthusiasm for imposing metric uniformity may be waning.

The fight goes on, but here's an example you might use when teaching about the EU. When bureaucratic rules, backed up by legislation from the European Parliament challenge national sovereignty, sparks fly. What's a sovereign nation to do?

In this, the latest example involving the EU and its members, the EU bureaucrats, using their wide range of discretion, seem to have backed down. The defenders of pints, miles, and pounds (as weight, not money) are not entirely satisfied. By the way, those of us not in the UK might not understand that the pint is the most important of these traditional measures.

EU gives up on 'metric Britain'

"The European Union is set to confirm it has abandoned what became one of its most unpopular policies among many British people.

"It is proposing to allow the UK to continue using pounds, miles and pints as units of measurement indefinitely...

"Under the plans which have now been scrapped, even displaying the price of fruit and vegetables in pounds and ounces would have become grounds for a criminal prosecution.

"The decision to back down was made by Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen... 'I want to bring to an end a bitter, bitter battle that has lasted for decades and which in my view is completely pointless. We're bringing this battle to an end.'...

"John Gardner, director of the pro-imperial British Weights and Measures Association, said: 'If a trader tries to conduct his business in just imperial measurements that will be illegal.'

"The UK Metric Association said the statement does not mean that traders can go back to weighing and pricing in imperial measures, and it will be 'business as usual'..."

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Labels: concepts, EU, policy, UK

posted by Ken Wedding @ 9:47 AM