Pros and Cons of the Metric System

I had written earlier about how it would be a mistake to consider the Syst�me International (Metric) a superior system of measurement. Here is a website that presents a nice argument for sticking with the English System. Check out Thought You Should Know: Here is a brief excerpt of their Metrication 101 essay:

Without getting too technical, the reason that these tools are non-decimal is because base 10 is a poor system of calculation. This is because it can be divided by relative few other numbers ... 1,2,5 and 10 ... without yielding a fractional/decimal result. Half of ten is 5. Beyond that it gets messy. Half of 5 is 2.5. Half of 2.5 is 1.25 and so on. 12 is better. It can be divided neatly by 1,2,3,4,6 and 12. And dividing by 2 gives us 6 and then 3. 16, found in our weight and volume units, is even better - with factors 1,2,4,8 and 16. Dividing by 2 gives us 8,4,2,1 etc.

This points to advantages of manipulation in many American units because when we work with amounts we often manipulate in terms of halves, quarters and even thirds. To be sure of being objective, think of situations free of American or metric units. Sharing out a cake. Dividing up a document so that it fits on a diskette. Folding a piece of paper. More often than not divisions with which we are comfortable, halves, thirds, quarters come into play. Divisions out of which our customary system of measurement has grown. Half a foot is 6 inches, a quarter is 3 inches a third is 4 inches. Half a meter is 50 centimeters, a quarter is 25 centimeters and a third is 33.3333.... centimeters. Take your pick.

There is a simple piece of empirical evidence that points to the fact that the entire world can handle units that are not in base ten ... Time. Nowhere are there 100 seconds in a minute, 100 minutes in an hour and 10 hours in a day etc. And yet the world manages to tell time and to calculate time-related problems.

Lots of good stuff and links to other pro-English websites.