British schools are replacing analog clocks because kids can't read them 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.
It's not just British kids, either. American kids also have their struggles figuring out what those ticking hands on a clock mean.
Jimmy Kimmel had some fun with the issue on his late-night show Tuesday.
A group of kids on the street were each asked to tell the time by looking at an analog clock and the results weren't pretty. (Kudos to the one kid who got it right).
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If analog numbers are old-fashioned and a thing of the past, what are London's Big Ben Roman numerals ?
Older than dirt
Yes, but IMO, that's a short-sighted viewpoint. Roman numerals are "old", but that doesn't mean they are irrelevant. If one doesn't know how to "translate" each Roman numeral and then do basic arithmetic, one will not understand many things, including cinema.
Never said they were irrelevant. They are still used quite a bit where I work.
I was just being a smart ass with the older than dirt comment.
Ah, OK. I apologize for not understanding. I'm "older than dirt" and freely admit it! Our classroom clocks were in Roman or analog numerals (depending on the room), and I remember doing arithmetic problems doing Roman numerals.
When my own children were in grammar school, they learned analog and digital with about one day of Roman (only I, V, and X). I taught them L, C, D, M and made math games for them using all of the numerals. We also had a chiming clock that had Roman numerals and they used to challenge each other to be the first to tell us the correct time.
I always tell people I am two days older than dirt and that when I was born Money Sick was only a minnow .
B.C. before clay.
Hold on, I've got to grab my abacus. It's multiplication day.
You're certainly free to ridicule my seed as much as you want, Kavika, but the fact remains that students do not know how to tell time and become "stressed" unless the numbers are presented to them in digital form. I see a big problem with this.
Jasper, I'm not ridiculing your seed at all...In fact I believe that the kids not being able to tell time on analog is a problem...The abacus comments was a joke. Before computers and most would not know how to use them, like the analog clock.
Naw, better to multiple the feathers on my tomahawk by the bear claws in my choker.
Reading a regular clock is a skill that needs to be taught. There are things that reference positions, it teaches time management, fractions and degrees
Meh, times change and what's necessary for older generations becomes unnecessary to newer generations. They probably had this same discussion back in the day when people stopped knowing how to read a sundial.
Add an hour to the school day to teach this. Once a student can prove he can now tell time the old fashioned way, they no longer are required to attend. Watch how fast these kids learn when they realize that extra hour a day in school will cut into their gaming and socializing times.