[QUOTE=wanders;5662833]The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 decreed that everything would be converted to metric by 1985. It was only after it was discovered that The New Math taught in the early 70's had failed to equip children to multiply and divide by ten that the whole idea was abandoned.[QUOTE]
Here is my theory. Young people picked up the metric system with out much trouble. The real culprit was the older people. They were not in school, so were never "forced" to learn metric. I remember my Mother griping about not understanding the metric system. Older people just also happen to be the same group that are the lawmakers. So instead of learning, they changed the law.
Also the idea of putting both measurements on everything sounds good on the surface, but it is nothing but failure built in. Why learn how far 6 kms is when 4 miles is posted right there? If we put Chinese and English on everything are you going to learn Chinese?