Young Can 'only Read Digital Clocks'

[naomi24]

//That's the claim in a debate between teachers - with suggestions that digital clocks are being installed in exam halls for teenagers.
It follows a report in the Times Educational Supplement of a conference being told that pupils needed a digital clock to be able to tell the time.//

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43882847

These are GCSE and A-level students so not so very young. Fine, they’ll be able to tell the time in exam halls – but what about in the rest of the world? Rather than simply install clocks they can read, I wonder if anyone has ever considered an option that would be far more useful to them - teaching them to tell the time?

[1ozzy]

// Like tying their own shoelaces//

Blame velcro or "slip on shoes" Clover.

[pixie374]

//Young Can 'only Read Digital Clocks'//

Is a blatant lie.

[douglas9401]

All the more embarrassing when Australian youngsters can learn all this stuff while being upside down. :-)

[-Talbot-]

What on earth? Don't parents teach their kids these basic things? Like tieing their own shoelaces. Or do they need teachers to do that for them now as well?


I went to school with several kids who could not tie their shoelaces...that is nothing new.
Anyway, jo...kids have velcro fastening shoes now.

[mushroom25]

well well. it seems BBC News is now considered to be the New Daily Wail.
who'd-a thought it?

[pixie374]

The BBC is notorious for misleading headlines.

[tamborine]

Tv prog times are digital. The only time analogue shown is Big Ben on HIGNFY.

Parents should teach kids with gift of a watch.

[jim360]

Bet most young people can't use abacuses or slide rules either.

[maggiebee]

Does it matter? Just so long as they know the time then I wouldn't bother personally.

[woofgang]

I know....its dreadful...the next thing will be that kids won't be able to mend their own quill pens!

......oh wait........

[1ozzy]

Point taken Jim.

"Move with the times?"

[tamborine]

Most Aussies only wear thongs on their feet

[Gromit]

I am dubious about the claim, because every child I know can read an anologue clock.

However, clocks are used less in the homes of modern new parents. They tell the time from their TVs and Smart Phones. Ovens, microwaves and and smart watches also dislay time in digital format.
So while the clock is taught to young pupils, it might be something they don’t see and use every day.

[THECORBYLOON]

I heard this being discussed earlier in the week and one teacher said the analogue clocks help when she's talking about angles and what like they look.

[ummmm]

Very true, Gromit, we don't have a clock in the house.

[Kromovaracun]

I forget exactly how old I was, but I learned analogue time relatively late (my grandmother ended up teaching me because the efforts of my teachers were unsuccessful).

I don't believe the headline. It sounds like sensationalism.

[bednobs]

i am rather split on this - probably because my own six year old struggles to tell the time either on an analogue or digital clock. However she can use a dial telephone (for example if she needed to call 999) but that's only because that's what we've got, not a push button one. I would expect i i asked her entire class to tell me how to use it they would all be stumped

[naomi24]

maggiebee, //Does it matter?//

Yes, it matters. Providing young people with the basic tools of life is essential. Anything less is failing them.

Jim, your analogy to the abacus and the slide rule is ridiculous. They are not things that people are likely to encounter in every day life.

[jim360]

Ah, but they used to be! Analogue clocks are becoming rarer and rarer -- it wouldn't surprise me if they disappeared altogether at some point, except as curiosity pieces in museums.

So no, it's not ridiculous at all.

[Jackdaw33]

//Bet most young people can't use abacuses or slide rules either.\\

Nor can this old person. Was never taught the abacus and was fascinated how easily the shop assistants in Russia used them. Slide rules were forbidden at school unless you were in the 6th form Science set. Anyway, with the advent of electronic calculators they are now obsolete, along with log tables and square root tables.