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My wife likes Chick-fil-A chicken. Just bought some for tonight. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and picked up the potato salad she likes behind the deli counter. Asked for a pint instead of pointing to a container size, which they usually have on display. The high schooler, or perhaps community college student, said she didn't know what that meant.
The next customer in line, a generation younger than me, looked quizzically. After asking her to show me the small container, and after not understanding why, she acquiesced. She pulled out the small container and said, "This is a one pound container". The "next in line" woman said that was a pint container. I added that their large container is a quart. While filling my container "next in line" said to me, "I guess they don't teach things like that anymore." I got my potato salad and left.
Imagine a high schooler or community college student not being taught the difference between volume and weight. The label on my potato salad said 1.18 lbs. No concept of density and its relationship to volume. No connection. It says a lot about our educational system. It says a bunch about our ability to compete with other countries who do teach fundamentals.
Discussion (35)
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Now I'm hungry.
A pint's a pound the world around (in the case of water).
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You are likely correct that it was a pint container and it is also quite likely that what it contained was sold on weight.
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When we decided to homeachool our son, I told him about meeting one of the teachers from his building school at the educational supply store. She had taught the other section of Kindergarten and first grade at his building school. I told him how she was unable to make change and had to use a calculator. He was very motivated hearing that and still is excellent at doing math in his head. Weights and measures are taught in math class as well, but they are now obscured by the bizarre methodology that passes for math education.
CONTRIBUTOR
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In the case of most foods, too. At least close enough for never mind. Even dried foods. A one-pound bag of beans / lentils / split peas contains two cups of legume. Same with rice. Since food is mostly water that makes sense.
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They price it by weight and package it by volume. The salespeople should understand both.
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