Nice tutorial. I learned to take the project in steps, because right now my helm looks deformed.
On the topic of the metric system and why the U.S. is stuck on the current system. Well, who exactly is going to pay the money to shift all of the machines, the gas pumps, the packages, EVERYTHING, into metric? It will cost billions to do so and is not worth the time or effort. I know both the systems though, Metric is really a whole lot better, especually since it's used pretty much everywhere around the world.
As well, U.S. schools are not up to standard I agree, but only the public schools, which are government run. The universities and colleges are all some of the best in the world and people come from all around to study in them. They are run on a for-profit basis in a free-market.