101–110 of 111 posts
Let's not be all "well, I had to learn it, therefore..."
It's a pointless skill. Let it die. Teach the kids something useful instead.
I wear an analogue watch myself, but I'd happily trade all my knowledge of analogue clock faces for an equivalent amount of knowledge in any area of interest to me.
This makes me wonder what methods of transferring information we may have lost historically that we don't even recognize? Will there be analog clocks in 30 years? It seems somewhat doubtful, particularly if this generation can't read them. What benefit is there to keep this antiquated method around, aside from just as an historical reference? I'm in my 50s, so I can read an analog clock, and I have analog watches. Bu…
> Will there be analog clocks in 30 years? It seems somewhat doubtful, particularly if this generation can't read them. I wish there was an analog clock face available for iOS on the lock screen.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> - Morse code I would argue that Morse code is not only alive and well in the amateur radio hobby but actively being adopted by younger people both in and out of the hobby. I just got a holiday card from a college friend whose 6 year old has taken an interest in Morse code despite knowing nothing about the existence of amateur radio.
ham radio license holders in japan: 1994 ~1.3M 2025 340k (lots of old people) and they dropped morse code from the exam requirements in 2011.
At least in the US, ham radio is far from a dying hobby and Morse code is actively being learned by people of all ages.
I feel like most of these comments have ignored the article. They were taught how to read clocks, in first and second grade. Then they had no need of the skill for most of a decade and it atrophied. I suspect many would struggle to remember some of the things we had down well in elementary school, like writing fully in cursive, knowing the difference between types of rocks and clouds, or giving some full speech you h…
The comments about analog clock reading being not a worthwhile skill are telling, but not in a good way. Analog clocks are still very prevalent today. People buy smartwatches, but plenty of people also buy analog watches. Some people even display an analog clock on their smart watch. Analog clock reading is a completely valid educational tool as well. It takes some basic spatial reasoning. Division, approximation, ro…
This makes me wonder what methods of transferring information we may have lost historically that we don't even recognize? Will there be analog clocks in 30 years? It seems somewhat doubtful, particularly if this generation can't read them. What benefit is there to keep this antiquated method around, aside from just as an historical reference? I'm in my 50s, so I can read an analog clock, and I have analog watches. Bu…
This framing aggravates me. Of course they /can/ read clocks. You just haven't _taught_ them how to do it yet, and up until now, they've had no reason to do it. It's divisive and weird.
This makes me wonder what methods of transferring information we may have lost historically that we don't even recognize? Will there be analog clocks in 30 years? It seems somewhat doubtful, particularly if this generation can't read them. What benefit is there to keep this antiquated method around, aside from just as an historical reference? I'm in my 50s, so I can read an analog clock, and I have analog watches. Bu…
Analogue clocks are, by design, also visual progress bars. Digital clocks just give you the time. There's a little video talking about this by Technology Connections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeopkvAP-ag
This makes me wonder what methods of transferring information we may have lost historically that we don't even recognize? Will there be analog clocks in 30 years? It seems somewhat doubtful, particularly if this generation can't read them. What benefit is there to keep this antiquated method around, aside from just as an historical reference? I'm in my 50s, so I can read an analog clock, and I have analog watches. Bu…
My kids are spending hours of class time in school learning Roman numerals. The correct amount of education about Roman numerals is a short form video of math trivia when you're 23. Zero classroom time should be wasted on an inferior system of numerals.
The comments about analog clock reading being not a worthwhile skill are telling, but not in a good way. Analog clocks are still very prevalent today. People buy smartwatches, but plenty of people also buy analog watches. Some people even display an analog clock on their smart watch. Analog clock reading is a completely valid educational tool as well. It takes some basic spatial reasoning. Division, approximation, ro…
I'm also very confused by the almost complete dismissal of intellectual curiosity in this thread. People learn things they don't _need_ to learn all the time and post about it here without being met with a "I don't need to learn that so why would anyone learn that" attitude. It's baffling.
What's stranger to me, assuming these kids are in classrooms with analogue clocks, is that they aren't constantly subdividing the clock face in every more complex mental schemes in boring lessons. "Just 2 more minutes, and then we'll be exactly 5/8 of the way through the second half of the lesson."
Maybe I am the weird one here.