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?

[Jackdaw33]

If someone stops me in the street and asks the time I will look at my digital watch. However I will not reply 5.40 but twenty to six.

[THECORBYLOON]

SPATH, how long would it take you to find a church compared to glancing at a mobile 'phone for example?

[aelmpvw]

apparently if it's juvenile asking they won't understand twenty to six

[naomi24]

Jim, //I expect you and her would get along rather well, N.//

I doubt that very much. I can’t recognise a hornbeam, or tell it apart from a blackthorn, or recognise speedwell from a distance .either – but then I don’t consider any of that to be a skill that will help me in every day life.

[Spicerack]

I've been on loads of jobs where you can't take your phone with you. One has to rely on The Townhall Clock or The Church Clock or failing that hope some weirdo has a wristwatch.

[ummmm]

CORBY - you're 100% correct.

[Prudie]

I can tell those plants apart and it has massively increased my appreciation of the world around me but that is irrelevant here. If we think we should only teach what are essentials now then no point in teaching history either. I know we have had a similar discussion on here about why teach tables when everyone uses a calculator. Not doom mongering but all this tech relies 100% on power - that may not always be available in the future. Mad Max and all that.

[THECORBYLOON]

If there is a readily accessible alternative to "A" (whatever "A" might be) why is the need to know about "A" and how to use it, essential?

[Gromit]

While railway stations have antique anologue clocks built into the building, all train time information is on digital displays which includes the current time, and the time the train is expected, in dogital format. Timetables use the 24 hour clock which anologue clocks do not display.

[naomi24]

Just teach kids both. Problem solved.

[Gromit]

dogital.

I like that typo.

[Spicerack]

^ Has to be in 'dogital' for you to read, Gromit.

[Gromit]

// Just teach kids both. Problem solved. //

They do teach kids both.
But if the kids are not seeing clocks with hands, then they won’t be regularly using that knowledge, and they will forget.
I used to be able to do quadratic equations forty years ago, but I have not had to for four decades, so I wouldn’t know how to now.

[naomi24]

Gromit, read the link. The kids are seeing clocks with hands but they can't read them - which is why it's been suggested that clocks with hands be replaced.

[Spicerack]

08:00 doesn't look anything like 20:00 unless you've been on the digital Bacardi. (or Vodka)

[anotheoldgit]

I wonder if during the alterations, they are thinking of turning Big-Ben into a digital clock?

Yes I know before anyone pipes up "Big-Ben is a bell" I am referring to the clock faces.

[Spicerack]

They haven't found a big enough battery, AOG,,,,,yet.

[dannyk13]

AOG
Of course not. That clock is mechanical, they would have to remove the entire working mechanism.

[vulcan42]

I find a lot of people are totally confused by the 24 hr system, which is odd because the armed forces use it to avoid confusion. One person I know booked a flight which was to leave at 1600 hours, she thought that was 6 o'clock. To make matters worse she did this twice in one year.

When the clock on the Elizabeth tower goes digital and Big Ben is a recording, I will acknowledge then that the analogue watch is a museum piece.

[Jackdaw33]

I suppose it's an age thing. If someone tells me the temperature in Fahrenheit I immediately know how hot or cold it is but in Celsius I have to do mental arithmetic to convert. The same goes for weights and measures.