Local Teachers Weigh In On Analog Clocks In Schools
My coworker Big Chuck and I ended up around the watercooler here at work talking about the inability of many youths to tell time on an analog clock or watch. Chuck had come across a 2017 study in Kansas City where students were tested on reading an analog clock and 4 out of every 5 tested failed.
This discussion continued on the WZOZ facebook page where I posed the question to educators and students in our local listening area, "Do classrooms at your school still have analog clocks?" All the responders responded "Yes", but there were some interesting comments from teachers that stated that many of their students didn't know how to tell the time on an analog clock. They had been taught in school at a young age and over time, had lost the ability.
It does make sense if you think about it. We are all surrounded in our homes by digital clocks: on the DVR, the stove, the microwave, the coffee maker, etc. Unless you have a decorative analog wall clock (I do), then you may not have a single analog clock in your home. So there's no daily practice for kids. I know you're thinking, what about those analog clocks that teachers reported are still in classrooms? Many of those same teachers said that the clocks were either not on the correct time or were broken. So needless to say that is not a reliable resource for kids to keep up their analog clock reading skills.
Are analog clocks on the way out? I predict that analog clocks will slowly disappear from existence until eventually, they will be a rare curiosity at antique shops.