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My GF has been telling about how there's a lot kids at her school that don't know how to tell the time on analogue clocks anymore. She says it's because kids d

by kypro 4y ago

My GF has been telling about how there's a lot kids at her school that don't know how to tell the time on analogue clocks anymore. She says it's because kids don't interact with analogue clocks much anymore and Covid lockdowns meant that a lot of kids never learnt it in school either. So apparently there is now a generation of kids who are around 10 - 12 who have no idea how to read the time from an analogue clock.

davchana 4y ago
One of my memory is to learn reading time on analogue watch from my uncle as a kid.
InitialLastName 4y ago
On one hand, I get the concern about this because mechanical clocks still exist, familiarity informs me that they're easy to read, and nostalgia tells me they're important. On the other hand, they are unintuitive, less common with every passing year, and I'd rather my children get any recess than add "learn to use another antiquated tool" into the school curriculum. I do complicated math for a living, but nobody's offended that I didn't ever get good at using a slide rule.
- mmcgaha 4y ago
  Ten years after the slide rule calculator came out, the physical slide rules had virtually disappeared. Clock with hands show no signs of disappearing. Sundials on the other hand are safe to ignore.
  - InitialLastName 4y ago
    > Clock with hands show no signs of disappearing. I can't remember the last time I saw someone with a mechanical watch other than as a fashion statement. 25 years ago, my household had mechanical alarm clocks, a mechanical clock on the oven, and multiple mechanical clocks on the walls of different rooms. Today, I think I might have a broken mechanical watch in my "you should probably fix these things" piles.
- brightlancer 4y ago
  I cannot speak for everyone, but my elementary school had analog clocks (which kids learned to read) while maintaining recess, art, music and gym. Having taught math to children, analog clocks are a great way to learn and apply fractions. I suspect that children's inability to read analog clocks tracks pretty well with their abysmal math skills, like fractions. So maybe we don't "add" analog clocks to the school curriculum, but we instead replace some nonsense with analog clocks and fractions.
  - sukilot 4y ago
    A year of school is already dedicated to fractions. Kids were bad at fractions even before digital clocks.
randomdata 4y ago
Is that abnormal? I remember not being able to read an analog clock at that age, several decades ago. Even back then they were uncommon.
gnicholas 4y ago
My parents required me to have an analog watch as my first watch. We did the same for our kids. Where we are, analog time-telling is a required part of the (common core) curriculum. So kids would have to learn it in school, though not necessarily internalize it for long enough that it would stick in the long run.

by kypro 4y ago

davchana 4y ago

One of my memory is to learn reading time on analogue watch from my uncle as a kid.

InitialLastName 4y ago

On one hand, I get the concern about this because mechanical clocks still exist, familiarity informs me that they're easy to read, and nostalgia tells me they're important. On the other hand, they are unintuitive, less common with every passing year, and I'd rather my children get any recess than add "learn to use another antiquated tool" into the school curriculum. I do complicated math for a living, but nobody's offended that I didn't ever get good at using a slide rule.

mmcgaha 4y ago
Ten years after the slide rule calculator came out, the physical slide rules had virtually disappeared. Clock with hands show no signs of disappearing. Sundials on the other hand are safe to ignore.
- InitialLastName 4y ago
  > Clock with hands show no signs of disappearing. I can't remember the last time I saw someone with a mechanical watch other than as a fashion statement. 25 years ago, my household had mechanical alarm clocks, a mechanical clock on the oven, and multiple mechanical clocks on the walls of different rooms. Today, I think I might have a broken mechanical watch in my "you should probably fix these things" piles.
brightlancer 4y ago
I cannot speak for everyone, but my elementary school had analog clocks (which kids learned to read) while maintaining recess, art, music and gym. Having taught math to children, analog clocks are a great way to learn and apply fractions. I suspect that children's inability to read analog clocks tracks pretty well with their abysmal math skills, like fractions. So maybe we don't "add" analog clocks to the school curriculum, but we instead replace some nonsense with analog clocks and fractions.
- sukilot 4y ago
  A year of school is already dedicated to fractions. Kids were bad at fractions even before digital clocks.

randomdata 4y ago

Is that abnormal? I remember not being able to read an analog clock at that age, several decades ago. Even back then they were uncommon.

gnicholas 4y ago

My parents required me to have an analog watch as my first watch. We did the same for our kids. Where we are, analog time-telling is a required part of the (common core) curriculum. So kids would have to learn it in school, though not necessarily internalize it for long enough that it would stick in the long run.