Inch, ounce, and Fahrenheit

In 1960 the French invited scientists of all nations to come to Paris and deliberate on an universal, unified, self-consistent system of measurement units based on the meter-kilogram-second system.

It is the merit of Emperor Napoleon that Europeans used the MKS System throughout the 19th century and on. Officially it was adopted by the European Economic Community in 1978.

The United States, a signatory of the Eleventh General Conference on Weights and Measures needed 15 years to commit the Americans to ‘the increasing use of and voluntary conversion to the metric system’. Result of such vague formulation is that Americans still today use inch, ounce, and Fahrenheit.

On May 10, 1973 President Ferdinand E. Marcos signed into vigor Presidential Decree No.187. It clearly reads: Section 1: Official use of metric system:

The system of weights and measures to be used in the Philippines for all products, commodities, materials, utilities, services and commercial transactions, in all contracts, deeds and other legal instruments publicly and officially attested, and in all official documents shall be the metric system,...

Result: Despite the clear order Filipinos still today use the English colonial system. My visit to the United Kingdom in 2006 may explain why Filipinos still say that I measure six-four or so instead of 1 meter 88. 

My Scottish friend -as all parents- had received from the Department of Education three samples of mathematic books to choose from one that then would be used to teach their children in grade two.  Since I myself was teaching mathematics to elementary classes in Berlin several years ago I felt curious to examine the learning material. To my great relief no such word as inch, foot, ounce, and yard was to be found. Only meter, liter, degree Celsius and their derived units (I am wondering if the British will return to their English measures after Brexit).

Visiting the class room of my grand-child or thumbing through her books I cannot find the measurement units used in all countries except US and the Philippines. When K to 12 was introduced I thought it a good opportunity to switch to the Système International (SI).

When President Duterte pivoted away from the US, I hoped the Department of Education would pivot also. But Madame Briones didn’t. Change can only come by teaching the new stuff to the young! The old stuff will die out with the old.

When I was a teacher at Cebu International School at Pit-os, I tried to convince the superintendent and the Parent-Teacher Association of the advantages of the SI over the English system. But the time was not ripe yet. When late last year I visited CIS again, my colleague Jennifer Basa of the science department delightfully surprised me with the good news: ‘Erich, we are metric now.’ At least there is now one modern school in Cebu.

When Cebuanos are requested to keep one and a half meter physical distance in a queue they seem not to know how long that is. Maybe they would better understand what is usa ra ka dupa.

Erich Wannemacher

Lapu-Lapu City

Coping with the lockdown

For one of my classes, I have been writing a journal entry every day about life, existence, and how we must value them amidst the pandemic. I must admit, even though writing has always been something I could do without much strangling effort and enjoyed without it feeling like a chore, producing all these entries when nothing really happens during quarantine felt like clockwork. I found myself talking on and on about the same thing. I would shuffle between the topics of struggle, sacrifice, and poor leadership. In troubling and harsh times like these, it was almost impossible to find any semblance of hope that I could muster into eight full sentences (as that was the requirement for each entry). People are dying, people are starving, and people are still, funnily enough, suffering under the rule of our government. While people are literally out there fighting to flatten the curve and risking their lives to get food on the table, I can only ever write about how much this all bothered me. But of course, I couldn’t do anything about the assignment. It was required. I eventually succumbed into enjoying the person I became while writing it.

All over social media, you’ll see so many family and friends trying to showcase the movies they’ve watched, books they’ve read, art they’ve drawn, meals they’ve skipped or whipped up, and bodies they’re close to achieving. I do not condemn any of these. If anything, it’s important to keep ourselves active physically, emotionally, and mentally as stagnancy in the middle of this wretched pandemic will only bring us down further. Though, it is also very important to note how crucial it is for us not to compare our means of productivity. There have been a handful of journal entries I’ve done that were of me complaining about how I wasn’t doing much compared to other people. I realized this and quickly changed my narrative. I now write eight full sentences in a new perspective. I no longer beat myself up for not accomplishing as much in a day. It was never about how little I did, but how much strength it took for me — for all of us — to push forward despite the uncertainties.

I guess I am writing this for all the people who feel helpless in this situation — people who wake up just to go to bed again. It is okay that the most you can do for now is exist. For as long as you are staying indoors, talking about what matters online, and tucking in prayers for our frontliners under your pillows, you are doing more than enough.

Nina Fatima C. Tundag

University of San Carlos

Cebu City