Don't fix the problem just change the parameters
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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.
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.
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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.
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This post did not contain any content.wrote last edited by [email protected]
It’s only happened twice, but I’ve run into kids who couldn’t read an analog clock. You know what I did?
I taught them. It took, like, 30 seconds. I know it took 30 seconds because I was wearing a goddamn watch.
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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
wrote last edited by [email protected]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 has wretched winter weather some years)
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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.
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Are people really this stupid now?
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Are people really this stupid now?
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).
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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
I am not referring to students with diagnosed disabilities - I am referring to the vast majority without.
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Are people really this stupid now?
wrote last edited by [email protected]How hard can it actually even be? Nobody taught me how to read an analog clock, I just figured it out myself at age 9 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 hard!"
And yes I correctly extrapolated the correlation between the minute hand and the hour hand too.
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I am not referring to students with diagnosed disabilities - I am referring to the vast majority without.
... in the context that many students can't read analog clocks and shouldn't get help. Pretty sure there is no official diagnosis for this so no problem and they don't deserve to know how much time they have left in a biology exam. Again, there is no reason to discriminate against people lacking unrelated skills, if diagnosed or undiagnosed.
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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 has wretched winter weather some years)
I don’t have a horse in this race, but your argument doesn’t hold up. If you want a way to tell the time during a power outage, you don’t need an analogue clock, you need one that runs on batteries.
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How hard can it actually even be? Nobody taught me how to read an analog clock, I just figured it out myself at age 9 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 hard!"
And yes I correctly extrapolated the correlation between the minute hand and the hour hand too.
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.
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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.
How did the seconds end up with three digits?
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... in the context that many students can't read analog clocks and shouldn't get help. Pretty sure there is no official diagnosis for this so no problem and they don't deserve to know how much time they have left in a biology exam. Again, there is no reason to discriminate against people lacking unrelated skills, if diagnosed or undiagnosed.
Let me put it this way: if someone is not disabled and still unable or too lazy to understand the clock, they shouldn't be in the exam room in the first place.
This is not a "discrimination" - most exams are for the people with a some level of the IQ, certainly above the level of a radiator. Or a stool.
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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.
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.
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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.
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?
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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?
wrote last edited by [email protected]Let me rephrase it than - if someone is an idiot, they shouldn't be in the exam room. If you are concerned about it, it may be because you fit the category.
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I don’t have a horse in this race, but your argument doesn’t hold up. If you want a way to tell the time during a power outage, you don’t need an analogue clock, you need one that runs on batteries.
I'm also horseless, but their analog clock is a wind-up, no batteries required. So if you're snowed in and can't get to the store, it's one less thing that will take up batteries.
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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.
Very true yes, but even considering kids that aren't as inclined to learn on their own, it can't be too difficult for an adult or even older sibling to sit down for 5 minutes or so and explain it while watching the clock with them. It could be made even easier if you put it side by side with a synchronized digital clock/watch.
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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...
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.
