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Being able to tell time on an analog clock is becoming a thing of the past for some schools in the UK.

Kids across the globe are said to be so perplexed by the moving hands that some schools in Great Britain are throwing away old, analog clocks because they're worried the students won't be able to keep time while taking high-level exams.

This move to strictly digital is leaving many people wondering, is it true? Can children really not tell time on analog clocks?

Well, Jimmy Kimmel hit the streets to find out.

See what kids had to say in the video player above.

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Kids learning to tell time on analog clocks becoming a thing of the past

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Being able to tell time on an analog clock is becoming a thing of the past for some schools in the UK. Kids across the globe are said to be so perplexed by the moving hands that some schools in Great Britain are throwing away old, analog clocks because they're worried the students won't be able to keep time while taking high-level exams. This move to strictly digital is leaving many people wondering, is it true?

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It questions if schools should still teach how to tell time on an analog clock or if not like in the UK

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On Friday, my colleague Steve Andre wrote in a staff wide email that he was considering teaching how to tell time on an analog clock to his seventh grade computer students because they can't read the one on his wall when they sign out with a pass. On one hand, Steve was for it because analog clocks are still prevalent so it's still a relevant life skill. But he adds that people don't wear analog watches so much, and analog clocks' days are numbered. He wanted our opinions on the matter.

Our opinions, and those of outside friends who have joined the discussion, crossed emotional, pedagogic, and philosophical lines. Emotionally, many were dismayed at the loss of this skill, one was even "appalled." Many teachers were frustrated because the clocks on our classroom walls are analog, so kids need to know analog time. (I wonder why they're not frustrated that our facilities are stuck in the 20th Century or that half of the clocks don't work anyway.) One bridged the emotional - pedagogic divide by expressing the frustration of teaching a skill that first or second graders are not developmentally ready for.

Other pedagogic arguments included the value of using an analog clock as a concrete example of math skills. Miriam added that learning analog clocks helps visual learners:

...I believe that the analog clock can provide a vivid representation of time that digital clocks cannot. Analog clocks are great for teaching time management, concepts including the passage of time, how much time we have left to complete something, etc. Even our little kids who don't yet have the concept of numerals can understand that "when the big hand is on this red line it's time to line up.

Philosophically, several people compared learning analog time to learning cursive writing, another skill that's about as common these days as an 8-track stereo. They pointed out that all anybody seems to write in cursive anymore is their signature. But isn't that a reason to stop teaching it, rather than continue?

Barb, my favorite non-conformist, wrote a response that combines emotion, pedagogy, and philosophy:

I don't know if it's necessary to learn to read an analog clock; but I definitely think it is good for the brain and even better for the mind. Even though the analog clock "moves time" through a single plane or two dimensions, at least time is moving through space at some level. And time needs space although not as much as space needs time. Digital clocks offer only a linear time, and even the linearity is broken up-a kind of dotted line of time. I think our conditioned and cultural tendencies in the west-forever- and increasingly all over the planet, are already towards a mental and psychic linearity( and very much broken up at that ) which lacks depth and scope and a connection to the non-physical world. So, I love the analog clock and the sense of something moving through time and time moving through something....The only thing is that analog watches ALL lose time on my wrist pretty dramatically. But I have a great analog art clock made out of those little firecracker things that you stomp on- hanging in my kitchen. It ticks and tocks, too. I still love sensations and the tactile, visual world-so yes, analog clocks.

That makes me want to teach analog time just so I can then teach them how to find south with an analog watch.

Her comments also led to a mental digression. Our English unit of length began as the average size of sixteen residents' feet in a given village. Daylight was divided into six equal parts so how long an hour lasted depended on the season and your latitude. So, time and distance were proportional the cycles of nature and her human inhabitants. A meter, by the way, is 1/299,792,458 of the distance light travels in a vacuum in one second. (Why not 1/300,000,000?) A second is equal to the duration of 9,192,631,770 cycles of radiation in an energy level change of the Cesium atom. (Why not 10,000,000,000?)

My own response to Steve's original question was that I think reading analog time is about as virtuous as using a rotary phone or zip-a-grade. (I was going to use put in a picture of a zip-a-grade for younger readers, but couldn't find a single one. There are, though, lots of zip-a-grade apps.)

Instead of comparing analog time to cursive, I compared it to reading dice, which a lot of kids can't do anymore, either. But the digital games they play instead:

...are more cognitively demanding and require more planning, collaboration, and communications skills than board games. Plus, like any good teacher - the games they play don't let them move on until they've mastered their current level while providing the motivation to continue. I'd love to be able to teach grit the way World of Warcraft does. My kids never asked me a geography or history question after playing Yahtzee or Monopoly, but they do after playing Assassin's Creed.

To that, my colleague Cheryl fairly pointed out the advantages of dice games in developing number sense.

And to Steve's earlier point about the prevalence of analog clocks in public places, I'd add that yesterday I visited the supermarket, the mall, two libraries, and a party. In those peregrinations, I saw exactly four analog clocks hanging on walls. The last was at my friend's party in her home. Her clock was quite lovely and made me think that in terms of decorative value, analog clocks win hands down.

At the end of the day, Steve wrote to us all that he had decided to teach analog time-telling.

I'm going to pass some time watching Cesium atoms radiate.

I grew up in Silver City, New Mexico and went the University of New Mexico, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology. After working for the U.S. Geological Survey in remote regions of western New Mexico, I moved to Tucson to attend graduate school at the University of Arizona, earning a Master of Science degree in Hydrogeology. While working as an intern hydrologist for a local county agency, I started doing volunteer work that involved making presentations in schools. At that moment I knew teaching was the path to follow. It must have been a good decision because I'm still on the path after thirty-two years. My teaching certificates are in math and science and I am a National Board Certified Teacher in Career and Technical Education. After teaching engineering and math and elective classes at the same school in downtown Tucson my whole career, I've moved to a different middle school and district on the edge of town to teach math. In addition to full time teaching, I am actively involved in the teacher leadership movement by facilitating National Board candidates, blogging for Stories from School Arizona, and serving on the Arizona K12 Center's TeacherSolutions team. In January 2017, Raytheon Missile System named me a Leader in Education and I'm a former Arizona Hope Street Fellow.

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Should We Still Teach Analog Clocks? - STORIES FROM SCHOOL AZ

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SHARE THIS STORY: On Friday, my colleague Steve Andre wrote in a staff wide email that he was considering teaching how to tell time on an analog clock to his seventh grade computer students because they can't read the one

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It shows you should learn to tell time because it is important for multiplication skills and much more life skills

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Despite smartphones and other technological advances, one object has withstood the test of time: the analog clock.

Many of us remember learning about them in schools, between the "big hand, little hand" and converting those numbers to multiples of 5.

But is the analog clock's life in schools slowly ticking away?

According to London's Telegraph, some schools in the U.K. are ditching analog clocks for digital ones because students are struggling to read them.

"The current generation aren't as good at reading the traditional clock face as older generations," said Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders.

Telling time is a key part of elementary school curriculum in the U.S., as many kids read the hands on a clock and write out the correct time.

In 2014, a teacher in Arizona discussed whether it was time to retire the analog clock in an age of smartphones and smartwatches where everything is digital, citing a colleague who wanted to teach his seventh grade class because they couldn't read the analog clock on the wall.

Carol Burris, executive director of the advocacy Network for Public Education and former educator with more than 25 years experience, said teaching analog time still holds value.

"The skills that you need to read an analog clock are skills that kids when they're young begin to learn," she said, citing concepts such as counting by fives and fractions.

Meanwhile, schools using Common Core standards for math require educators to teach kids in earlier grades such as first or second.

While schools in the U.K. have chosen to pull analog clocks, it appears the devices' time in U.S. schools won't expire any time soon.

"There's a lot of very complex mathematical manipulations that are involved in being able to tell time with an analog clock," Burris said. "It takes some of the math skills students are learning and gives them an important real world context."
Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.

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Some students don't know how to read analog clocks. Is it the end of an era?

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Despite smartphones and other technological advances, one object has withstood the test of time: the analog clock. Many of us remember learning about them in schools, between the "big hand, little hand" and converting those numbers to multiples of 5. But is the analog clock's life in schools slowly ticking away?

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Talks about how kids are not exposed to that many analog clocks

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Just because 'there's an app for that' doesn't mean you have to use it. This week we're going analog, reminding ourselves that we can live-and live Analog Week Analog Week well -without smartphones, and seeing what's worth preserving from the time before we were all plugged in 24/7.

Last year, in an unscientific exercise, Jimmy Kimmel's team showed some kids a traditional clock and asked if they could read the time on it. It did not go so well.

Yes, kids do still learn how to tell time in school, but we can guess that many of them are losing exposure to analog clocks outside of the classroom. Thinking about it now, the only clock that my six-year-old can see in our home is on the digital display of our microwave. It hasn't even occurred to me to hang up another one-my husband and I always have our watches or phones on us.

But time management specialists say that analog clocks can teach kids something that digital clocks can't, and that is that time moves. Academic coach Leslie Josel often gives parents this advice: Hang an analog clock in every room your children spend time in, including the bathroom. (If you have a teen, definitely put one in the bathroom, she suggests.)

"The problem with digital is that it only gives you one time-the present," Josel says in her video series. "You can't see what came before it or how much time you have left."

With an analog clock (particularly one with a second hand), kids can visualize the passage of time as it happens, making them more aware of this moment relative to the past and future. It can give them a feel for how long it takes to complete certain tasks-say, washing the dishes or writing a book report-and plan accordingly. Seeing time as a one-hour pie can also help them break down projects into smaller tasks more intuitively.

As for the type of analog clock you should display, keep it simple. Choose one that's big and easy to read. (Think about the one you stared at every day in sixth-period high school economics-it got the job done.) After hanging the clocks throughout your home, talk to your kids about time, and do it often. Ask them questions like: "If we have to be there at two and it takes us 15 minutes to get there, what time should we be out the door?" Eventually, they'll no longer require your prompting.

The more your kids "see" time, the better they'll be able to move with it. And that's a skill they'll always need, no matter what new digital devices they'll have in the future.

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Just because 'there's an app for that' doesn't mean you have to use it. This week we're going analog, reminding ourselves that we can live-and live Analog Week Analog Week well -without smartphones, and seeing what's worth preserving from the time before we were all plugged in 24/7.

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It tells the importance of learning how read analog clocks and why it can be helpful.

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Teaching kids to tell time past the hour

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Telling time past the hour can be challenging for primary kids but it doesn’t have to be a struggle for you or your students. Learn simple ways and effective strategies to make telling time easier for primary kids.

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Explains how it is in our everyday lives and we should learn it

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Can your kids read an analog clock? You know, the round ones with hands. Like the Rocket Clock in Play School (as opposed to the digital watches that were soooo cool in Back to the Future).

Learning to tell the time on an analog clock is HARD and, pardon the pun, it is a skill that takes time to master.

Some people think that kids are increasingly unable to read analog clocks. I haven't been able to find hard evidence to support this claim but, from anecdotal evidence, it is certainly true that some kids are reach their teenage years without developing this skill, despite digital and analog time telling featuring equally on our school curriculums.

It is unsurprising - digital clocks are far more common, especially for "i-Gen" kids brought up with screens. Yet there are still enough analog clocks around - in people's homes, on town halls and on people's wrists - to make it an important skill to learn.

So how does a kid learn to read a clock with hands?

Sonja Walker is a teacher with 30 years' experience. She points out that the most important thing is to have regular exposure. "I suggest having analog clocks around your house, and buying your primary schooler an analog watch," she says.

She also suggests consciously using the lingo associated with time. "Use a timer when you are encouraging your kids to take turns, or say things like: 'We need to pick up Sarah from soccer at 5pm so let's look at the clock to see what time it is now.'"

Play School has the right idea by starting with hour and half-hour times, something that is echoed in the early years of our school curriculums. "After that, you need to know patterns of five," says Walker.

This is where analog clocks get super confusing. Roger Shackleton, who realised just how confusing when he tried to teach his daughter, sums it up beautifully: "When the minute hand points to one, we need to say five; when it points to five we need to say 25; when it points to seven we also need to say 25; when it points to 10 we do actually say 10."

Shackleton realised that there must be an easier way. He hand-crafted a clock that contained more information than regular analog clocks. "It was made of cardboard and had Mickey Mouse hands," he says.

He added numbers to correspond to the minutes and lengthened the minute hand so that it pointed right to the numbers. He then added the words PAST to one half, TO to the other, and a bit of colour coding for good measure.

"Now all the information needed was on the clock," he concludes.

From there, it becomes a simple three step process to tell the time. "All a child has to do is read the number the long hand is pointing to, say whether it is on the 'past' or 'to' side of the clock, then read the number that the short hand is pointing to," Shackleton says.

The idea was so successful that, after his daughters had totally mastered telling the time, Shackleton created a commercial version of his cardboard clock. I used one with my kids so totally agree with Shackleton when he says: "Telling the time had gone from being inexplicable, to three simple steps that can be learned in just a few minutes."

Of course, there is a bit more to it than that. There is learning the concepts of quarter past, quarter to, and knowing that half past four is the same things as four 30. Then there is working out how much time is left before something happens by subtracting using 60 as the base number rather than 100. And, for extra degrees of difficulty, there are roman numerals and the 24-hour clock to master.

But, once the fundamentals are in place, these more complex elements are easier.

Like all skills, learning to read a clock will come more naturally to some kids than others. Walker, who now runs a multidisciplinary service for kids facing challenges with their learning, says: "For some kids, the whole concept of time is hard, it is abstract and some kids will likely always have gaps in their skills."

Like all skills, reading an analog clock will be developed more quickly and fully when they are learned both at school and at home.

If you need some add some humour into the equation, hit YouTube for these hilarious takes on the topic.

An analog clock-reading Vox Pop by Jimmy Kimmel:

An oldie-but-a-goodie - veteran comic Dave Allen routine on the challenges of teaching your child how to tell the time:

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Do kids really need to know how to read an analog clock?

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Can your kids read an analog clock? You know, the round ones with hands. Like the Rocket Clock in Play School (as opposed to the digital watches that were soooo cool in Back to the Future). Learning to tell the time on an analog clock is HARD and, pardon the pun, it is a skill that takes time to master.

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Anyone paying attention to changes in schools over the years will notice how evolving technology has altered the ways students learn. For example, iPads have replaced textbooks, digital whiteboards have replaced chalkboards, even the classroom itself has been replaced to a degree, with students able to take classes remotely over the internet. The question begs to be asked. Are analog clocks the next to go?

A Vanishing Skill?

Across the Atlantic, some British schools have taken note of that development, replacing analog clocks with the digital variety, according to the Washington Post, which notes that the same time-telling handicap applies to many American students, too. That's what an Oklahoma City survey concluded, finding that just one in five students ages 6-12 could read an analog clock.

An Unnecessary Stressor?

A Foundational Skill?

Those who want to hold on to the analog tradition say that learning to read the format is part of a basic level of education. In support of that argument, the Common Core curriculum that guides what is taught in American schools still includes analog time-telling as a standard lesson.

Use it or Lose it?

The argument for learning to read analog clocks might also be compared to the value of knowing long division or memorizing phone numbers. After all, the old saying persists today: "Use it or lose it."

Physical exercise could be seen as another valid analogy. Daily life doesn't require that we expend as much physical energy as it used to, but no one's arguing against the value of a good sweat once in a while. Perhaps, then, we need to intentionally engage in certain mental exercises - making computations that we don't actually need to do - for overall cognitive health.

Of course, at American Time, we value the skill of reading analog clocks and believe it will continue to be a necessary and important skill to know in the future. However, we do understand that digital clocks are simply better suited for some purposes. We're interested to see which direction this argument leads us here in the U.S.

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Is Teaching Students to Read Analog Clocks Still Relevant in Schools?

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Anyone paying attention to changes in schools over the years will notice how evolving technology has altered the ways students learn. For example, iPads have replaced textbooks, digital whiteboards have replaced chalkboards, even the classroom itself has been replaced to a degree, with students able to take classes remotely over the internet.

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by: WCMH

Posted: / Updated:

Some schools in England are replacing analog clocks with digital clocks because students complained they couldn't read the time.

Malcolm Trobe with the ASCL head teachers' union noted students are much more accustomed to seeing digital clocks on computers or mobile phones. He said schools may be trying to help students taking standardized tests be able to quickly see the time.

"To adults it might seem second nature to use a standard clock face," Trobe told the BBC. "Young people find it a bit easier to use a digital clock - and if they're timing themselves for questions, it might make it less likely that they'll make mistakes."

Cheryl Quine, a department head at Cockermouth School said her school found children were having trouble telling the time, the Telegraph reported.

True. We installed digital clocks in the exam hall ...- Mrs Keenan (@MrsKeenan100) March 13, 2018

A study released last year in Oklahoma found only one in five children ages 6-12 knows how to read a watch, KFOR reported.

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Schools removing analog clocks from classrooms because students can't read them

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by: WCMH Posted: / Updated: Some schools in England are replacing analog clocks with digital clocks because students complained they couldn't read the time. Malcolm Trobe with the ASCL head teachers' union noted students are much more accustomed to seeing digital clocks on computers or mobile phones.

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I immediately thought of four folks: my younger son, junior son, senior daughter and grown step-daughter. The youngest is in third grade in Hawkins County, the middle two in Kingsport City Schools and the oldest graduated from Hawkins. That's four folks, and the result of surveying them, actually just interaction over time, has shown 75 percent more or less can't tell analog time, on a round-face clock, which was the point of the email. I remember once time telling my older son in late elementary school it was a quarter till or quarter after a certain hour. He asked if that was 3:25 or 25 minutes till 3.

These digital natives read time as 3:15 p.m. or 3:45 p.m., not a quarter till or quarter after anything. But analog clocks and before that sundials have been around almost as long as civilization. The youngest is learning and nearly complete in understanding analog time; the other three, not so much at all. They use their cell phones for time except for the youngest. He borrows his mom's phone or asks somebody. I asked him recently, and he said he prefers digital clocks because they are easier for him to understand.

Before I go any further, I need to point out that a watch retailer put out the release to promote its program with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America "to educate children across the U.S. on how to tell time" and creation of "a self-learning watch." So the watch seller has some self-interest in mind: Create life-long time tellers, and you create a market for your product. I also need to point out the survey got nowhere near Tennessee or Virginia.

"A recent survey conducted by ... online watch retailer, DiscountWatchStore.com has revealed that 75% of children across the U.S. are unable to tell time on an analog clock. In a mission to raise awareness of this issue, the watch retailer teamed up with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to put on 'Time Telling Workshops' throughout the country, and has now designed the 'Easy Time Teller' - a custom self-learning watch to better facilitate the learning process." So it's a watch to teach children how to read a watch.

In Tennessee, Robin McLellan, supervisor of elementary education for Sullivan County schools, said time is taught in grades 1, 2 and 3 and involves both analog and digital time, in contrast to a period in which standards did not specify analog. In first grade, she said students are to learn how to tell and write time in the nearest half-hour intervals, in second grade, students go down to every five minutes and use a.m. and p.m;. and in third grade they go down to the minute and learn how to measure intervals in time by adding and subtracting and how to solve word problems.

"Your begin in first building foundations and then add more skills," McLellan said. For the time three of the four I referred to earlier were in school, analog time was not a big deal. For me, it was practically the only deal. My first "digital" alarm clock circa mid-1970s flipped over a new number or numbers every minute. It is (yes, I still have it) like a Rolodex, not to be confused with a Rolex watch. If you don't understand any of this, never mind. You probably don't know "Time is on My Side" by the Rolling Stones, "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce or "One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)" sung by Frank Sinatra, either. (The latter starts out: "It's quarter to three. There's no one in the place, except you and me."

According to the news release, the analog time telling survey consisted of 15 questions and was split into three levels of varying difficulty. It was distributed to 2,100 children between the ages of 6-12 in New York, Florida, Connecticut, Washington, Nevada, Utah and Texas. Children unable to obtain an 80 percent mark in levels 1 and 2 or a 70 percent mark in level 3 were judged not to be able to tell time to an adequate level. Only 263 children out of the entire survey achieved full marks on the test, with 527 children achieving scores of a sufficient level. Based on the sample, findings and criteria stated it was revealed that 25 percent of children were able to tell time.

"Through educational workshops, the nationwide initiative has reached thousands of children across the U.S., seeking to highlight a significant problem with today's youth growing up in the digital age, and allowing the youngsters the opportunity to learn a fundamental component of early childhood and development. The survey assessed over 2,000 children between 6-12 years old in seven states across the U.S., with only 1 in 8 children scoring full marks on the test and only 1 in 10 children even owning a watch," the release said.

However, the premise is important, much more important than selling watches.

"It is alarming how many children only know what a digital clock reads, and despite an era of digital technology, there will undoubtedly come a time when today's youth will need to read the time on an analog clock. It is a basic skill every individual should posses," said DiscountWatchStore.com owner Zai Zhu. (Notice how he got "alarming" in there in a news release about time pieces.) "We've been going up and down the country holding workshops with children in partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to help educate our children. It is these workshops that inspired the idea for a specially-designed watch for children to learn how to tell time."

The educational watch has a color-coded design, with hour blocks and specifically catered hour and minute hands that correspond with the appropriate information, allowing children to learn to read time on a round dial on their own. The campaign recently had a Kickstarter campaign in an effort to raise funds and reach as many children throughout the U.S. as possible.

"The ability to tell time on a regular watch is not something being taught to our children. It is important that they learn this lost skill," said Steve Davidson, chief operating officer at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada. "At our clubs, we are using the ability to tell time also in our daily math tutoring program."

Today's lesson: I'm not trying to sell watches or with the Boys & Girls Clubs, but I couldn't agree more with the importance of learning about analog time.

Bonus question: What time is quarter till 3 in a song Frank Sinatra sang?

Rick Wagner is an education writer for the Kingsport Times-News and can be reached at [email protected] or (423) 392-1381.

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Behind the Blackboard: Telling time on an analog clock should not be lost to new generations

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Digital natives read time as 3:15 p.m. or 3:45 p.m., not a quarter 'til or quarter after anything. But analog clocks and before that sundials have been around almost as long as civilization. The youngest is learning but not yet complete in understanding analog time; the other three, not so much at all.

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By Spooky on April 26th, 2018 Category: News

A head-teachers' union in the UK recently reported that youths have become so accustomed to using digital devices that they are having trouble correctly reading time on analog clocks, forcing schools to replace them.

According to Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders, children and young teens aren't as good at reading an old-fashioned clock as previous ones. Because phones, tablets and computers play such a huge role in their lives, they are constantly exposed to time in digital format, so seeing the time displayed in analog format in examination halls can be a cause of unnecessary stress for children. For this reason, some schools are removing analog clocks and replacing them with digital ones.
Photo: GabrielleMerk/Wikimedia Commons
"The current generation aren't as good at reading the traditional clock face as older generations," Mr Trobe, a former headmaster, told The Telegraph. "They are used to seeing a digital representation of time on their phone, on their computer. Nearly everything they've got is digital so youngsters are just exposed to time being given digitally everywhere."

Until now, it was assumed that by the time students reach secondary school, they are able to read analog clocks, but Mr. Trobe claims that this is often not the case anymore. His experienced is shared by other teachers, who recently took to social media to complain about this issue.

For example, Stephanie Keenan, head of English at Ruislip High School in north-west London, said that her school decided to replace analog clock in exam halls with digital ones, after it became clear that some year nine, ten and eleven students had difficulties reading an analog clock face.
Photo: ŠJů (cs:ŠJů)/Wikimedia Commons
Cheryl Quine, a head of department at Cockermouth School and chair of the West Cumbria Network, said that some children at her school couldn't read analog clocks in exam rooms either.

"It may be a little sad if youngsters coming through aren't able to tell the time on clock faces," Malcolm Trobe said. One hopes that we will be teaching youngsters to read clocks, however we can see the benefit of digital clocks in exam rooms."

To make matters worse, earlier this year, a senior pediatric doctor warned that young children are finding it increasingly difficult to use analog writing tools like pencils and pens, due to being exposed to phones and tablets all the time.
Photo: Elke Wetzig/Wikimedia Commons
"To be able to grip a pencil and move it, you need strong control of the fine muscles in your fingers. Children need lots of opportunity to develop those skills," head pediatric occupational therapist Sally Payne said. "It's easier to give a child an iPad than encouraging them to do muscle-building play such as building blocks, cutting and sticking, or pulling toys and ropes. Because of this, they're not developing the underlying foundation skills they need to grip and gold a pencil."

All we can do is hope that modern technology never fails, otherwise we're in big trouble.

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Schools in the UK Are Removing Analog Clocks Because Students Can't Tell Time

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By Spooky on April 26th, 2018 Category: News A head-teachers' union in the UK recently reported that youths have become so accustomed to using digital devices that they are having trouble correctly reading time on analog clocks, forcing schools to replace them.

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In late April 2018 rumors about schools' removing analog clocks because students couldn't read them began to pop up all across the Internet:

Analog clocks are kinda the worst. tbh. https://t.co/JwWYOtb8HM

- BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) May 3, 2018

Kids can't tell time anymore! Aren't they supposed to be taught in schools? What are they doing in schools? https://t.co/fYBnLY6gwL

- Bethann (@sewwutnow) May 4, 2018

Not unexpectedly, readers combined truncated headlines and conversations with what they already believed to be true: that students in 2018 are bereft of the most basic life skills, including knowing how to read the time from a standard clock face.

Richmond, Virginia, television station WWBT was among several regional news affiliates repeating a somewhat inaccurate version of the story:

Schools in Great Britain, which is home to Big Ben, are removing analog clocks from classrooms because the students can't read what time the clocks say, according to a report in The Telegraph.

Of course, another option would be to teach the students to read the clocks.

[An] official told The Telegraph he hopes that happens.

In that report at least one frequently-overlooked detail was present: that the information pertained to schools in the United Kingdom, not the United States. Like nearly all local versions of this story, WWBT referenced an April 2018 article from The Telegraph but omitted some key details present in the original report.

According to the story's most notable early appearance, the topic of analog clocks in schools came up only in the context of a specific type of examination. A representative of an educators' association explained that for exams which were not unlike the United States' Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), teachers had grown weary of disruptions from students unsure about how much time remained in the testing session.

Although the report began by saying that schools were "removing analogue clocks from examination halls because teenagers are unable to tell the time," it explained that teachers (not students) ushered in the change due in part to disruptions:

Teachers are now installing digital devices after pupils sitting their GCSE and A-level exams complained that they were struggling to read the correct time on an analogue clock.

Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said youngsters have become accustomed to using digital devices ... Mr Trobe, a former headmaster, said that teachers want their students to feel as relaxed as possible during exams. Having a traditional clock in the room could be a cause of unnecessary stress, he added.

"You don't want them to put their hand up to ask how much time is left," he said.

"Schools will inevitably be doing their best to make young children feel as relaxed as they can be. There is actually a big advantage in using digital clocks in exam rooms because it is much less easy to mistake a time on a digital clock when you are working against time."

Trobe did say that some students struggled to interpret time from standard clocks, but the observation was made entirely in the context of students' trying to estimate the time remaining (not necessarily trying to tell time in general) during high-stakes standardized examinations (not during ordinary classroom exams, tests, or quizzes). But social media users quickly abbreviated the claim made by one educator to suggest that multiple schools were filling dumpsters with analog clocks because modern students found them unreadable, while the more specific story was misrepresented in both local news reports and social media conversations.

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Are Schools Removing Analog Clocks Because Students Can't Read Them?

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In late April 2018 rumors about schools' removing analog clocks because students couldn't read them began to pop up all across the Internet: Analog clocks are kinda the worst. tbh. https://t.co/JwWYOtb8HM - BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) May 3, 2018 Kids can't tell time anymore! Aren't they supposed to be taught in schools?

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Remember that slight buzzing sound of those old, industrial clocks on the wall when you were growing up. I sure do, because all I did was stare at them all day waiting to get out of class.

Well, it looks like future generations of students in the United Kingdom will never get the pleasure of staring at those analog clocks because those relics are being removed from classrooms because kids can't read them.

You read that right. School kids in the U.K. can't read the clocks and are getting majorly stressed out because they don't know how much time they have left during exams. Of course, this is a sign of the times. With almost everything in our lives leaning towards the digital spectrum, it's not too hard to believe that kids wouldn't know how to tell time in 2019.

Malcolm Trobe, the deputy general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders, says, "You don't want them to put their hand up to ask how much time is left. Schools will inevitably be doing their best to make young children feel as relaxed as the can be. There is actually a big advantage in using digital clocks in exam rooms because it is much less easy to mistake a time on a digital clock when you are working against time."

And this is not the only alarming trend among school kids in regard to technological advances. A pediatric occupational therapist in England named Sally Payne said that young kids are having difficulties holding pens because they are so used to iPads and other digital devices. Payne said, "It's easier to give a child an iPad than encouraging them to do muscle-building play such as building blocks, cutting and sticking, or pulling toys and ropes. Because of this, they're not developing the underlying foundation skills they need to grip and hold a pencil."

Very strange times we live in...

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Some Schools Are Removing Analog Clocks Because Kids Can't Read Them

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Remember that slight buzzing sound of those old, industrial clocks on the wall when you were growing up. I sure do, because all I did was stare at them all day waiting to get out of class.

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Gone are the days when we were taught how to read time in school. So it may come as a shock to you that schools are now taking off analog clocks from their examination halls because teenagers just don't know how to read time. A head teachers' union has revealed that they have been forced to remove analog clocks and replace them with digital ones, reports the Telegraph. Especially during exams, teachers see a lot of students come up to them and complain they can't understand the clock and that's apparently confusing them.

Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said youngsters were used to using digital devices, and that is where the problem arose. He said, "The current generation isn't as good at reading the traditional clock face as older generations. They are used to seeing a digital representation of time on their phone, on their computer. Nearly everything they've got is digital so youngsters are just exposed to time being given digitally everywhere."

A former headmasterTrobe added that it's best to keep the students as calm and relaxed as possible during the exams. When you have a clock in the room you don't know how to read, it obviously adds more stress to the students who are already worried about the exams. He said that schools are trying to make everything as "as easy and straightforward as possible" for pupils during their exams. He said, "You don't want them to put their hand up to ask how much time is left."

Working against the clock during exams is stressful to say the least. So to make it easier on the students, digital clocks becomes a boon for them. "Schools will inevitably be doing their best to make young children feel as relaxed as the can be. There is actually a big advantage in using digital clocks in exam rooms because it is much less easy to mistake a time on a digital clock when you are working against time," he said.

Post a Partners in Excellence conference in London where a presentation on the topic took place, teachers took to social media to share their experiences about the same. Stephanie Keenan, principal of English at Ruislip High School in north-west London, said her school was one of the many to shift from analog to digital clocks because many nine, ten and eleven years students could not read the clock.

A department head at Cockermouth School and the chair of West Cumbria Network, Cheryl Quine also stated that her students had difficulty in telling time "when some couldn't read the exam room clock". Students are taught the basics in school, but that's not the on-ground reality, according to Trobe, who's seen quite a few students having trouble with reading an analog clock.

"It may be a little sad if youngsters coming through aren't able to tell the time on clock faces. One hopes that we will be teaching youngsters to read clocks, however, we can see the benefit of digital clocks in exam rooms," he said. It seems like children have a lot of other problems with going old-school too. Most of the activities kids indulge in nowadays are always on a screen or a tablet, like watching videos or coloring, or even drawing something with fingers on them.

A senior pediatric doctor said children are finding it increasingly harder to hold pens and pencils because of an overdependence on technology. Sally Payne, the head pediatric occupational therapist at the Heart of England Foundation NHS Trust affirmed that when children are given pens to hold at school, they simply don't know how to use it, much less hold it properly.

She said, "To be able to grip a pencil and move it, you need strong control of the fine muscles in your fingers. Children need lots of opportunities to develop those skills. It's easier to give a child an iPad than encouraging them to do muscle-building play such as building blocks, cutting and sticking, or pulling toys and ropes. Because of this, they're not developing the underlying foundation skills they need to grip and hold a pencil."

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Schools Are Now Removing Analog Clocks Because Children Can't Read Them

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Gone are the days when we were taught how to read time in school. So it may come as a shock to you that schools are now taking off analog clocks from their examination halls because teenagers just don't know how to read time.

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Students should learn how to tell analog time.