British schools are replacing analog clocks because kids can't read them during tests

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

Some schools in the U.K. are reportedly ditching traditional analog clocks because students aren't able to tell time during tests.

 

Schools in Britain are throwing their hands up over kids who can't tell time on traditional clocks.

Some U.K. schools are ditching analog clocks from test rooms because a generation of kids raised on digital clocks can't read them and are getting stressed about time running out during tests, London's Telegraph reports.

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

Officials believed the clocks are causing undue stress because kids can't figure out how much time they have remaining to complete a test.

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

"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."

True. We installed digital clocks in the exam hall ...

— Mrs Keenan (@MrsKeenan100) March 13, 2018

It's not just British kids, either. American kids also have their struggles figuring out what those ticking hands on a clock mean.

An Arizona elementary school teacher wrote a blog post in 2014 about whether students should still be taught how to read analog clocks, arguing that they help visual learners but also noting that they are rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

Jimmy Kimmel had some fun with the issue on his late-night show Tuesday.

Source

 

So, our kids can't think now? I learned this carp from my parents and pre-school... The world is getting dumber...

[jnelsoninjax]

5 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

Some schools in the U.K. are reportedly ditching traditional analog clocks because students aren't able to tell time during tests.

 

Schools in Britain are throwing their hands up over kids who can't tell time on traditional clocks.

Some U.K. schools are ditching analog clocks from test rooms because a generation of kids raised on digital clocks can't read them and are getting stressed about time running out during tests, London's Telegraph reports.

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

Officials believed the clocks are causing undue stress because kids can't figure out how much time they have remaining to complete a test.

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

"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."

True. We installed digital clocks in the exam hall ...

— Mrs Keenan (@MrsKeenan100) March 13, 2018

It's not just British kids, either. American kids also have their struggles figuring out what those ticking hands on a clock mean.

An Arizona elementary school teacher wrote a blog post in 2014 about whether students should still be taught how to read analog clocks, arguing that they help visual learners but also noting that they are rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

Jimmy Kimmel had some fun with the issue on his late-night show Tuesday.

Source

 

So, our kids can't think now? I learned this carp from my parents and pre-school... The world is getting dumber...

100% agree, I know I learned how to read an analog clock in like 1st grade?!

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

1 minute ago, jnelsoninjax said:

100% agree, I know I learned how to read an analog clock in like 1st grade?!

Yeah, somewhere in those early days. I mean, how hard is it to read an analog clock?!

[jnelsoninjax]

Just now, Mindovermaster said:

Yeah, somewhere in those early days. I mean, how hard is it to read an analog clock?!

Apparently extremely for some...

[+virtorio MVC]

If they haven't been taught how to read an analogue clock, the middle of an exam isn't exactly a great time for them to try and figure it out.

[+Zagadka Subscriber²]

I'd like to be more upset about this, but it really isn't a huge deal to get upset about. There is little benefit to using analog clocks (when you get down to it). We'd lose almost nothing if they vanished overnight. We can hold up this standard and pretend that we need to teach it because... hey, you have to learn it? Like you have to listen to classical music or whatever?

 

It is obsolete tech.

[Shiranui]

I bet the parents of these horologically-challenged kids all voted "leave".

[zhangm Supervisor]

I remember not understanding why some people wanted timers or clocks during exams. It seemed to me that time spent glancing up at the time was time better spent working on the exam...

[+Zagadka Subscriber²]

Some students (aka, the really anal ones) give per-question time limits based on sections of the test score... so some only get 5 minutes, others worth more points get 10, and whatnot to give them the best score.

 

Never liked that system, just kinda wrote, but there is a point in using clocks during exams.

[zhangm Supervisor]

11 minutes ago, Zagadka said:

Some students (aka, the really anal ones) give per-question time limits based on sections of the test score... so some only get 5 minutes, others worth more points get 10, and whatnot to give them the best score.

 

Never liked that system, just kinda wrote, but there is a point in using clocks during exams.

Up through high school level, when I felt pressed, the strategy was take out everything that I knew the answers for and were short, then everything that I could answer that was longer. After that, I'd start reasoning out the ones that I didn't immediately know the answer for. Now that I think about it, I'm stunned that some of my teachers had designed the tests well enough that they'd take quite a reasonable amount of time (e.g. pretty much exactly one class period).

 

No idea how tests/exams are carried out across the Atlantic, but of course this strategy fails in exams that aren't designed so that you get through the entire thing.

 

This stopped working in college, where some exams would be 3 questions and you'd have to figure every single one out... ?

[thechronic]

I have to say i think this is probably using the worst schools in the country. Most kids i know can read an Analog clock or are learning to.

[+Zagadka Subscriber²]

3 minutes ago, thechronic said:

I have to say i think this is probably using the worst schools in the country. Most kids i know can read an Analog clock or are learning to.

But why? I mean, is there a practical purpose that skill would be required for?

[Dick Montage]

Gonna throw this out there:

 

I have two university degrees, was straight A’s at school, considered a very bright child.

 

I struggled to read an analogue clock until I was about 5.

 

Different people learn different things in different ways at different speeds. Feel free to sit on a pedestal and judge, if you are that attached to a device that uses one way of displaying time over another device that uses another method.

[dipsylalapo Supervisor]

@ZagadkaYou make a good point. I did think it was ridiculous at first, but then I think the last time I saw an analogue clock in public that was ornamental and I'm struggling. 

 

Just another thing that millennials are running

[thechronic]

7 hours ago, Zagadka said:

But why? I mean, is there a practical purpose that skill would be required for?

I think there is every reason to learn how to tell the time using different formats because 1) it means they can independently tell the time regardless of where they are and what device they have access to! and 2) why not? Analog clocks work. I have a few in my home to tell the time and for decorative purposes. My children have a special Analog one which breaksdown what the different hands are for and what the different parts mean!

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

6 minutes ago, thechronic said:

I think there is every reason to learn how to tell the time using different formats because 1) it means they can independently tell the time regardless of where they are and what device they have access to! and 2) why not? Analog clocks work. I have a few in my home to tell the time and for decorative purposes. My children have a special Analog one which breaksdown what the different hands are for and what the different parts mean!

Look at the doctor's office...

[+Warwagon MVC]

I had 2 analog clocks in my house that I replaced. Not because I couldn't read them but because I hate noise when I work. The Tick tick tick tick tick tick was driving me nuts. I also had one of the stupidest analog Atomic clocks. When it was time to set our clocks back, the clock would burn energy going around the clock fast 23 times, instead of going back 1 hour.

[Mando]

11 hours ago, Zagadka said:

But why? I mean, is there a practical purpose that skill would be required for?

so you can tell the time on an anlogue clock which are everywhere? i could tell the time, by time i was 3 ffs (dads a watchmaker) been fascinated with analogue watches and clocks ever since.

 

 

 

lol

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

5 minutes ago, Mando said:

so you can tell the time on an anlogue clokc which are everywhere? i could tell the time by time i was 3 ffs (dads a watchmaker) been obessessed with analogue watches and clocks ever since lol.

 

lol

Even in my early life, there was both analogue and digital... Why now?

[Mando]

6 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

Even in my early life, there was both analogue and digital... Why now?

it also has uses in aeronautics and in seafaring etc.

2 hours ago, warwagon said:

I had 2 analog clocks in my house that I replaced. Not because I couldn't read them but because I hate noise when I work. The Tick tick tick tick tick tick was driving me nuts. I also had one of the stupidest analog Atomic clocks. When it was time to set our clocks back, the clock would burn energy going around the clock fast 23 times, instead of going back 1 hour.

oh no man nothing better than the sound of a mechanical tick tock, i love it but tbh i prefer the sound of my 1970s omega seamaster (sweeping second hand movement so more a tick-tick-tick), if i cant hear it at night i cant fall asleep, the wrist its on, has to be under my pillow. Ive also got a fair few manual winders around the house in each room, mostley restored by my dad, 1940s wooden mantels mostley, we hunt boot fairs and antique shops for them, keeps him nimble

[techbeck]

Instead of educating kids, lets make them even dumber. Great plan!

 

Analog is not going away anytime soon, so they better learn.  It is not difficult either and is something my 1.5 yr old grand niece can figure out.  Hell, I am sure there are even videos of this as well.  If analog was almost extinct, then ok...but it is still out there in many places.  

 

And for the fashion sensible, analog clocks look much better and some have an artistic feel.

Edited May 8, 2018 by techbeck

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

2 minutes ago, techbeck said:

Instead of educating kids, lets make them even dumber. Great plan!

Shows why school grades are so low. It's not the teacher, it's their parents...

[DConnell Member]

[techbeck]

4 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

Shows why school grades are so low. It's not the teacher, it's their parents...

School grades are down for a lot of reasons.  I would say pay and getting quality teachers is a big factor.  And the fact that to save money, fed and local governments tend to cut education funding first.

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

21 minutes ago, techbeck said:

School grades are down for a lot of reasons.  I would say pay and getting quality teachers is a big factor.  And the fact that to save money, fed and local governments tend to cut education funding first.

That, too. But parents are in charge for their children's first 4 years or so. And they aren't doing their best. So when the teacher comes in, the child knows very little of attitude or any life skills.