Eh, we don’t teach them how to read a sundial or make a fire anymore either. I don’t see a problem with removing old technology from school instruction.
Don't fix the problem just change the parameters
Submitted 6 months ago by Mickey7@lemmy.world to [deleted]
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/f809cb9c-c018-4ad2-975f-68e4e399e1de.png
Comments
Bytemeister@lemmy.world 6 months ago
wischi@programming.dev 6 months ago
“Old technology” like, hammers, spoons and books 🤣 Let’s get rid of the wheel. That crap was invented ages ago.
Bytemeister@lemmy.world 6 months ago
…which by the way is just reading the number the freaking shadow points at…
And how do you read an analog clock? By looking at the number the arm points at. Learning how to read the clock is not just “what number is it on” but it’s getting familiar with the clock face so you can read it quickly. It’s like the difference between spelling and reading.
Arcka@midwest.social 6 months ago
Such a shame that so few people know how to ride a horse these days. You still see them across the countryside and in many cities, but most people choose not to learn.
istdaslol@feddit.org 6 months ago
Especially when this is a skill easily teached by parents. But who whants to interact with the humans one put into this world, I need to get this [insert trend item]
saturn57@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Digital clocks are just objectively better. They are easier to read, cheaper, and more accurate. While the reason for swapping out the clocks is bad, the end result is still good.
MeThisGuy@feddit.nl 6 months ago
they don’t make the satisfying tik tik though
RejZoR@lemmy.ml 6 months ago
Are people really this stupid now?
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
Just the people who believe this nonsense.
FelixCress@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Just read comments of some users in this very thread. “Idiocracy” was a documentary after all.
Mickey7@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Yeah they are. Try asking a simple question about geography. OR Remember in the movie Animal House how the Belushi character said that the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. Say that today and most people still in school will readily nod in agreement
over_clox@lemmy.world 6 months ago
How hard can it actually even be? Nobody taught me how to read an analog clock, I just figured it out myself by staring at my parents’ analog clock for exactly 5 minutes, while carefully watching the hands move and counting.
When I realized that the second hand ticked 60 times per revolution, and after it had went around 5 times, and the longer of the two slow hands had advanced from the 12 to the 1, then I simply thought to myself “Well I get it now, that’s not so difficult!”
And yes I correctly extrapolated the correlation between the minute hand and the hour hand too.
bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 6 months ago
Figuring things out yourself is always hit or miss. Either the specific neurons required for you to understand something fire or they don’t.
Relying children to figure something out for themselves is doubly stupid. Because for that to work, the child must want to learn the thing and then be able to understand it. If reading an analog clock isn’t something you need (and maybe you’re not even around analog clocks), then you won’t learn.
BetaDoggo_@lemmy.world 6 months ago
No, it’s a meme made for older generations to feel superior to the younger generations. I’ve never met anyone who couldn’t read analog (who wasn’t very early primary school age).
kugel7c@feddit.org 6 months ago
Idk in our university lecture halls we had HH:MM.sss digital clocks and it’s obviously superior for exams because you can just compare the numbers instead of translating and then comparing the numbers. And I’m pretty sure that’s why they were digital, because it’s easier to quickly compare.
Mickey7@lemmy.world 6 months ago
The point wasn’t about which is easier but that many really can’t read an analog clock. And that’s really sad.
Kornblumenratte@feddit.org 6 months ago
If you were used to analog clocks, you’d read the remaining time just off the clock. As you would just read the time off it – no need for any translation or comparison, just one glimpse and you’d know it. For several decades this superiority of analog clocks was a main argument against the use of digital clocks. Digital clocks are more precise, though.
bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 6 months ago
How did the seconds end up with three digits?
MeThisGuy@feddit.nl 6 months ago
micro seconds
FelixCress@lemmy.world 6 months ago
He never learned the clock.
blave@lemmy.world 6 months ago
It’s only happened twice, but I’ve run into kids who couldn’t read an analog clock. You know what I did?
I talked to them. It took, like, 30 seconds. I know it took 30 seconds because I was wearing a goddamn watch.
Mickey7@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Still can’t understand how any kid cannot do it. Isn’t that something you learn from your parents before you even go to school
FelixCress@lemmy.world 6 months ago
… Unless the parents are idiots as well.
user224@lemmy.sdf.org 6 months ago
I’ve had, and honestly still do have issue with reading it rather than understanding. At least the way I was taught, it just sounds really weird, like 15:40 being “5 minutes till quarter to 4 in the afternoon”.
I don’t need to think about “fifteen forty”.someguy3@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I remember learning in second grade.
blave@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I think I learned how to read a clock in preschool, not from my parents
balance8873@lemmy.myserv.one 6 months ago
Probably not – time isn’t that relevant before society puts you on the path towards hourly labor. I learned in elementary, but then I also grew up with digital clocks like most folks under 50.
blave@lemmy.world 6 months ago
It’s only happened twice, but I’ve run into kids who couldn’t read an analog clock. You know what I did?
I talked to them. It took, like, 30 seconds. I know it took 30 seconds because I was wearing a goddamn watch.
PlaidBaron@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Ive tried to teach my students (High School) how to read an analog clock. Keep in mind, I dont have time to teach a whole class on it, just a little lesson on how now and then when they ask what time it is. They can read it for the class, but the next day theyve forgotten how completely.
Its not because theyre stupid or lazy. Its because they rarely get practice with it. We know how to read an analog clock because, yes we were taught it in school, but they were everywhere so we essentially had practice with it all the time. These kids see digital clocks 99% of the time. So when do they ever apply their knowledge?
The only students who can read the clock are the handful who have analog watches for fashion reasons because they use it all the time.
Its a matter of practice but in truth these kids dont really have to read an analog clock in the modern world.
AA5B@lemmy.world 6 months ago
As a parent, we made sure to have an analog clock in every room while my kids were growing up, and we made them prove they could read it. Still don’t work. Digital clocks are everywhere else and in many ways more convenient.
Analog clocks are an obsolete decice whose time has passed. I also tried to keep it alive into the next generation but it’s not happening. It’s time to give it up.
Let that be one of our hallmarks as we age: the last generation with analog clocks. I use an analog face on my digital watch, have analog decorative clocks and I’ll accept that my kids believe that old fashioned (they do accept the analog clock face on my old car I gave them though, or maybe don’t know how to change it)
Default_Defect@anarchist.nexus 6 months ago
Its because they rarely get practice with it.
I would argue that a lot of what I learned in school didn’t have much opportunity to practice outside of school, but I agree that analog clocks are not a learning priority.
Comrade_Spood@quokk.au 6 months ago
Most of the things that I was taught that I don’t get practice with I do not remember how to do it anymore. Now I do have ADHD so that definitely does not help.
However I will say I do think in some cases learning how to do things you wont necessarily need outside of school can be useful as it can teach you other helpful things subconsciously. There are certain supporting skills that are developed when you learn those things that can be used in other contexts. Are there more effective ways to learn those supporting skills besides teaching things most people likely wont use again? Probably, but I don’t really have an answer for what
Eq0@literature.cafe 6 months ago
I also wonder: what’s the goal of teaching this? Sure, a cursory lesson is a good idea, but making it a fundamental step seems nonsensical in a world that doesn’t require it at all. It’s like teaching how to sharpen a quill, it’s not needed anymore
olenkoVD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
Of course it’s still needed. There still exist analog clocks almost everywhere. (At least in my country)
GlendatheGayWitch@lemmy.world 6 months ago
It’s an easy way to introduce fractions, especially since it’s common to hear/say it’s a quarter passed 2, half passed 5, and a quarter to 9.
Also teaches multiples, since the numbers on the clock represent multiples of 5.
Helps with directions, clockwise is when the hands spin to the right and counter-clockwise to the left. You’d be amazed how many students can’t tell their left from right.
foodandart@lemmy.zip 6 months ago
NGL, wind up analog clocks are useful in places where the power goes out often. I have a 7-day grandfather clock and it’s been a godsend when northeasters turn into ice storms that take down the power for days…
(Northern New England had wretched winter weather some years)
SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world 6 months ago
Snopes article about this from 2018 stating it’s mostly false.
aarRJaay@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Its becoming a reality though. I work in a school (primary and secondary) and the exams officer is putting digital clocks only in the exam rooms for that reason.
arudesalad@piefed.ca 6 months ago
Students not being able to read an analogue clock being a reason may seem silly, but being able to read one shouldn't be a requirement to be able to do well in exams, especially UK exams where students have enough to deal with already.
lobut@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
When my friend’s daughter was 9 years old and he was complaining how she didn’t know how to read an analogue clock.
I mean, I wound up teaching my nephews when they were 4 … not sure what’s stopping him from doing it though.
Mickey7@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Well who would ever disagree with a Snopes article
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
People who believe memes are real.
SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world 6 months ago
Mostly misogynistic right wingers but I don’t know any on this site.
Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 6 months ago
First: Some UK teachers exchanged the analogue with digital clocks. This was only to reduce interruptions by some students (during a specific kind of UK exams), who had trouble determining the remaining time in the heat of the exam battle.
Secondly: The use of analogue clocks is taught at UK schools. What’s missing is the practice that former generations of pupils had. No more wristwatches, public clocks all but gone, and (what I am nostalgically missing from my youth) no more peeking onto parked car’s dashboards to read the analogue clock there. Times have changed, and this specific partially lost ability is not the schools’ fault. (Not to say that other things aren’t…)
Can we please bury that stupid old meme, as it has been based on some inaccurate buzz and largely giving a completely inaccurate impression of the topic from the start…
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
Support. First reasonable comment in here.
Vinstaal0@feddit.nl 6 months ago
Since smart watches are a thing some schools banned wristwatches during exams because they where not planning to look for the differences
danc4498@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Kids don’t know cursive either. Nobody needs it anymore.
Capricorn_Geriatric@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I feel that learning cursive is important.
First you learn how to write ordinary letters. That trains your fine motor skills so you can write them reliably (try writing with your non-dominant yourself hand to see).
What cursive teaches you is how to write quickly. Of course, no one will write in pure, perfect cursive. Most people settle for a style somewhere in between. It teaches you the concept of “you can combine letters together to make you write faster” and “here are a bunch of ways to combine them” is a good thing. Especially if they end up going to college.
Giving them a few more weeks of practice in reading and writing is a great way to avoid them being partially illiterate.
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Being “taught” cursive in school was torture, anyway.
someguy3@lemmy.world 6 months ago
My wrist watches were always digital, public clocks in suburbia I’m just gonna say never existed, in cars wtf?
I can only see this as an education problem.
GladiusB@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I used to troll my teachers with inane questions to help my friends prepare for exams or quizzes that we knew were coming. I can’t expect it’s changed much.
joyjoy@lemmy.zip 6 months ago
no more peeking onto parked car’s dashboards to read the analogue clock there.
Eventually, Lexus might stop including the analog clock as a luxury feature.
FelixCress@lemmy.world 6 months ago
This was only to reduce interruptions by some students (during a specific kind of UK exams), who had trouble determining the remaining time in the heat of the exam battle
I am not being funny but if someone is unable to read the time perhaps they shouldn’t be in the exam room in the first place.
It is like saying that all questions will be read out loud all the time and verbal answers recorded instead of written ones - because some students are illiterate.
Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 6 months ago
Ah, okay, I can’t take exams because my dyscalculia makes it difficult for me to read a clock (and it’s not worth my time to learn how to read them).
👍
papalonian@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Honestly if you can’t calculate things on an abacus you shouldn’t be in the exam room tbh. Sure, calculators have been invented and have ultimately replaced the abacus in nearly every facet of day to day life, but surely you know how to add beads together?
We’re letting kids use GPS to get to school now? What the street signs and constellations aren’t good enough for you?
lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
Students with dyslexia do get special treatment. There is no reason to discriminate against people lacking an unrelated skill and it’s not funny to demand it so we at least agree on something
Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
Analogue clocks are a great example of kids having to understand a concept and apply it. And it’s simple enough that anyone can learn it.
I often see examples where children are required to memorize a set solution, instead of showing understanding and reaching the solutions themselves.
These clocks are somewhat dated, but removing them just feels like another symptom of a failing educational system.
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
Don’t worry because it’s a fake story.
www.snopes.com/…/schools-removing-analog-clocks/
Rezoie@lemmy.world 6 months ago
wait analog is outdated?? what do you mean?? What else do people wear on their wrist?? some dystopian world your living in
Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
Dated, not outdated. Or do I totally have the meaning of the word wrong?
joel_feila@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I remember getting a compliment more then once jn school. I was good t talong what i learned in once class and applying it to another
Mickey7@lemmy.world 6 months ago
As our schools fail they simply change the parameters to cover up their failures
WoodScientist@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Nah let’s ditch the analog clocks and instead teach them sundials. That will really stretch their brains.
wischi@programming.dev 6 months ago
Analog clocks are mechanical imitations of sun dials. Ever wondered why clockwise is the way it is? It’s because the sun moved that way (on the historically a bit more dominant northern hemisphere)
wischi@programming.dev 6 months ago
Analog clocks are dated? Let’s get rid of books because we have kindles. Just something was invented a very long time ago doesn’t make it obsolete by any means. Or should we get rid of spoons or hammers? Those things are really somewhat dated.
Capricorn_Geriatric@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I have to say, I’m auite fond of my pneumatic hammer. When will my pneumatic silverware become a thing?
I just can’t be bothered to expend any energy while I’m eating! It’s supposed to give me energy, after all!
WoodScientist@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Do you know how to read a sundial?
Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
Dated does not mean obsolete. But it’s hard to deny a digital clock is superior in almost every way.
Unlike the other examples you’re giving, I fail to see in what aspect an analog clock beats a digital one. Sure they have a certain charm, but functionally their just behind their digital counterpart.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
Yeah I keep an analog clock on the wall because it’s a more intuitive way to keep track of how long I’ve got to get ready to go out. I know where the angle of the minute hand will be when I have to be out the door, so it’s quicker to glance it it and know if I gotta pick up the pace or I got plenty of time or whatever.