• Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 month 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…

    • unalivejoy@lemmy.zip
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      1 month 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.

      • Capricorn_Geriatric@lemmy.world
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        1 month 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”. It’s 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.

        • MBech@feddit.dk
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          1 month ago

          Counter point: I can write a hell of a lot faster on a keyboard if I need to take notes.

        • Paula_Tejando@lemmy.eco.br
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          1 month ago

          I was taught block lettering in technical drafting class, 8th grade. Cursive is a lettering specifically created to be easy to handwrite. It flows on paper, as opposed to the repetitive short strokes of block lettering.

          • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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            30 days ago

            The way they taught us cursive was the complete opposite of the intent of cursive. Rigidly proscribed characters with marks only for form, ignoring all function. It was agonizingly tedious and physically painful writing all of those nonsensical scrawls. I immediately switched back to my own chicken scratch after grade school because it was not only orders of magnitude faster, but at least didn’t make my hand painfully seize up into a claw.

            Decades later, as my handwriting evolved, a number of my own script letters began to resemble those wretched cursive runes, because I had apparently blindly stumbled upon the actual correct method for writing to flow from nib to parchment, as opposed to whatever those torturous rituals scarred me with as a child.

            • Übercomplicated@lemmy.ml
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              30 days ago

              The problem you describe is very real, and not just in the US or the UK, but in most of Europe as well. A big part of writing is how to actually write, not just the letters et al.

              I mean the literal way you move you arm, the angle you write at, how you hold you pen, etc.

              I didn’t learn any of that, and as an intensely dyslexic and left-handed individual, writing was extremely painful to me. That is, until 10th grade where I taught myself calligraphy.

              It turns out that, when learning calligraphy, you do learn how to write properly.

              After that, my handwriting in school (and for the rest of my life) became much better: I didn’t have hand-pain anymore, I didn’t smudge the ink, and, of course, my handwriting was very orderly and neat. Teachers even started commenting on it!

              Most notably for me though: writing became fun. For me, as a dyslexic, this literally felt revolutionary.

              Anyway, that is what I think they should teach in schools.

    • GladiusB@lemmy.world
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      1 month 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.

    • Vinstaal0@feddit.nl
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      1 month ago

      Since smart watches are a thing some schools banned wristwatches during exams because they where not planning to look for the differences

    • someguy3@lemmy.world
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      1 month 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.

    • FelixCress@lemmy.world
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      1 month 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.

      • papalonian@lemmy.world
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        1 month 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?

        • FelixCress@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          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.

          • Karl@literature.cafe
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            1 month ago

            What makes people who didn’t learn to read analog clocks idiots? If you have a thing about analog clocks, just keep it to yourself.

            it may be because you fit the category

            Or maybe because it’s just stupid af to judge people’s intelligence based on an unrelated life skill.

            • FelixCress@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              What makes people who didn’t learn to read analog clocks idiots?

              Wrong question. The correct would be: what make people who are too lazy or too stupid to learn the clock idiots - but that would be a rhetorical one.

              it’s just stupid af to judge people’s intelligence based on an unrelated life skill.

              Intelligence is an ability to obtain knowledge and skills. If someone lacks both, it is a strong indication of them not having enough intelligence to obtain them.

              • Karl@literature.cafe
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                1 month ago

                who are too lazy or too stupid

                They do know how to read the clock (digital ones :) ) Again, it doesn’t make them idiots or lazy for not learning something they don’t really need to learn

                Intelligence is an ability to obtain knowledge and skills. If someone lacks both, it is a strong indication of them not having enough intelligence to obtain them.

                What makes you think they don’t have the ability to learn how to read analog clocks just because they don’t? You might not know how ride a horse, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn how to. Are you an idiot for not learning how to?

                • FelixCress@lemmy.world
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                  1 month ago

                  They do know how to read the clock

                  They also know how to use calculator, they just don’t knot 2 times 2 is four without it. Neither have place during an exam.

                  What makes you think they don’t have the ability to learn how to read analog clocks

                  Because if they did, they would have done during lessons to learn it, sweetie 🙄

          • papalonian@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            Yikes.

            Also, since you ran out of arguments and started correcting people’s spelling, *then.

            • FelixCress@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              “yikes” what?

              Passing exams is not an entitlement, it is an achievement. If someone is an idiot unable to understand the clock, they shouldn’t be in the exam room in the first place - and they certainly shouldn’t expect someone will start explaining clock to them when they are supposed to write an exam.

              • DesolateMood@lemmy.zip
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                1 month ago

                Why are you so adamant that reading an analog clock is required to pass an exam that doesn’t feature any material related to reading analog clocks?

                • FelixCress@lemmy.world
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                  1 month ago

                  Why are you so adamant that reading is required at all? You could just watch ticktock instead after all.

      • Axolotl@feddit.it
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        1 month 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).

        👍

        • FelixCress@lemmy.world
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          No, you shouldn’t pass exams if you are an idiot - and if you do take them, don’t expect a special treatment because of your stupidity.

          And no, as I said people with diagnosed disability are a different matter.

          Hopefully that clarifies it for you.

  • smiletolerantly@awful.systems
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    1 month ago

    I feel like I’m going insane reading these comments about how difficult it is to read analog clocks, how it needs too much understanding of maths, how it takes too long,…

    Can someone please confirm: you just look, for a fraction of a second, at the clock face and know the time, right?

    Learning to read the clock was like… A couple of lessons and some homework in the 2nd grade, and everyone got it.

    • FelixCress@lemmy.world
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      I feel like I’m going insane reading these comments about how difficult it is to read analog clocks,

      Some of these comments are made by lazy idiots arguing that there is nothing wrong with being lazy idiot.

            • Capricorn_Geriatric@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              It isn’t lazy to have a mastered skill and use it. It’s lazy not taking the time to master it.

              That being said, the biggest lazies of them all are the curriculum writers which don’t make teaching future working adults how to use a clock a priority in grade school.

              • buttnugget@lemmy.world
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                30 days ago

                I do not. I don’t conceive of looking at something as having anything to do with the concept of laziness. I feel like I’m missing something huge.

                • FelixCress@lemmy.world
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                  30 days ago

                  I do not

                  In this case I am afraid I doubt in my ability to explain anything to someone of your ability.

    • markovs_gun@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I am in the transition age range of people who have trouble reading analog clocks and I must admit I had trouble with it until I started wearing a watch as an accessory as a teenager. The issue isn’t that it’s hard, it’s just something that you need practice at to do quickly and a lot of young people just don’t look at analog clocks to tell time very often. It’s not a matter of being stupid or not being taught how to do it, it’s like mental “muscle memory” that just isn’t built up in a world where digital clocks are everywhere, including in your pocket 24/7

      • JcbAzPx@lemmy.world
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        30 days ago

        Watches were pretty ubiquitous before the smart phone was popularized. Though, digital watches were common since the '80s, so I’m not sure how much that really figures in. There is some truth, though, in needing to regularly do it to keep the skill.

    • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Throughout middle school and high school, my bedroom clock was one of these, just the mechanism, no face, no numbers, hanging off the edge of a shelf. I had no trouble reading it. I still can easily read an analog clock with no numbers or any face marks.

      Clock parts

    • wischi@programming.dev
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      1 month ago

      To be fair if you are never exposed to it (and judging by the comments that seems to have happened in the US) you can’t tell the time by “just looking at it”. But analog clocks are objectively simpler to teach to children (let’s say three to eight years old).

    • Pat_Riot@lemmy.today
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      1 month ago

      Clock reading was covered in kindergarten and cursive writing taught in 1st grade. These were some of the first wrinkles pushed into our little growing brains in the early 80s by school. That these things are no longer being taught so early explains why so many people are willing to immediately accept the Google AI overview as gospel and are wearing Crocs everywhere they go.

      • smiletolerantly@awful.systems
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        1 month ago

        FWIW, I went to school in mid-2000. My sibling even later. They still taught it back then, and at least here, I am pretty sure they still do. (And why would they not, after all…)

    • buttnugget@lemmy.world
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      I don’t know, I’ve never particularly liked analogue clocks. I don’t think I ever thought of them as difficult to read, but it’s far superior to look at an exact number like digital usually features.

      • smiletolerantly@awful.systems
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        1 month ago

        Disagree - it rarely matters to me if it’s 13:24:56 or 13:25:05, but I do find the instant and intuitive gauging of time deltas super useful (as in, how long it’s going to be to the full hour / to quarter past / … ). Not saying you can’t get that info from a digital clock as well, of course you can; but the physicality of analog clocks lends a good bit of intuition to this, I feel.

        • Redex@lemmy.world
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          I get that, but I personally find that I often do care about the exact time, down to the minutes, and that’s harder to track with an analogue clock. I don’t have particular problems in reading them, I just often prefer digital clocks.

          But I will agree that I feel analogue clocks give a better vibe of the time, since its basically a pie chart of how far you are in the day.

    • Spaniard@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Yes.

      I used to have some complex thinking I was slow at reading time in an analog watch, these days I feel much more confident.

    • Mickey7@lemmy.worldOP
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      Yeah but the “hard” work of reading an analog clock apparently offends some people. Just more of “feelings” nonsense vs. facts

    • ThirdConsul@lemmy.ml
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      30 days ago

      I’m 35. Math major. Work in STEM. Well educated.

      I hate analogue clocks. Why use subpar way of reading time if digital is so much better?

      • jaupsinluggies@feddit.uk
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        29 days ago

        Same reason you might use 22/7 instead of the exact value of π. If I look at a clock and see it’s about ten to 2, it’s rare to never that I actually need to know it’s 1:53:22.57365785285978520256734567314854372354675466099.

      • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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        29 days ago

        They are actually a helpful way to show passage of time visually, without abstract math knowledge. For example my son has downsydrome, he could read time from analog and understand passage of time and time left on it, but numbers counting up to 60 was abstract… Like its 47 minutes past 5 how close to the hour is it getting? No clue unless he wrote it out as a math question and did the subtraction. But for him those were meaningless numbers anyway. 15 was no different than 45 for him. But visual cues of quarter past and quarter to made sense for him

  • PlaidBaron@lemmy.world
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    1 month 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.

    • Eq0@literature.cafe
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      1 month 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

      • foodandart@lemmy.zip
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        1 month 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 has wretched winter weather some years)

        • bleistift2@sopuli.xyz
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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.

          • papalonian@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            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.

            • Comrade_Spood@quokk.au
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              1 month ago

              I have a watch that is piwered by movement, and it is analog. Love the thing cause I don’t have to remember to charge it or replace the batteries, it charges when I wear it. However if I forget to wear it it will likely die. But then I just give it a good shake and update the time.

            • Spaceballstheusername@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              I don’t know why you would need a clock if you’re trapped in your house. Maybe if you have to take pills at a specific time but usually you can be off by an hour or two which I can tell simply by looking outside and sensing time internally.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          I’ve always wanted one of these but really only to remind me of my grandparents house from when I was a kid

      • GlendatheGayWitch@lemmy.world
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        1 month 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.

        • MeThisGuy@feddit.nl
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          1 month ago

          You’d be amazed how many students can’t tell their left from right.

          wtf? this goes back further than analogue clocks… we used to have a ribbon on one hand until we learned to distinguish right from left

          next you’re gonna tell me kids can’t tie shoe laces anymore right?

          • GlendatheGayWitch@lemmy.world
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            I understand that learning left from right is a skill to learn. However, it was rare for a teenager to be unable to distinguish their left from right, unlike today.

            • MeThisGuy@feddit.nl
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              1 month ago

              so kids these days are no longer taught that two wrongs don’t make a right, but three lefts do? wild

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      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
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      1 month 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
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        1 month 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

  • DeadMartyr@lemmy.zip
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    1 month ago

    I think removing everything that kids have a bit of a hard time trying to grasp just teaches kids to give up if anything isn’t immediately apparent. Its not as much of a waste of time as cursive, and it’s to be taught to think in another way.

    I think that kids “learning how to learn” is really important, especially with how these AI models are stunting like a whole generation of people.

    This is minor, but I also think less things need electronic displays/components that are hard to recycle and increase dependency on exploiting X country for Y resource. Its also cool to just be able to build a physical mechanism which digital clocks have no real feasible option to do

    • tooclose104@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      I just found out my 10yo has been lagging behind in spelling because he’s been using speech-to-text on his school issued iPad for class work. He doesn’t have to think about it or try sounding it out, so of course an unpracticed in-development skill is waning. It’s going to be an interesting parent-teacher meeting coming up.

      • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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        30 days ago

        Is it a feature you can disable on the iPad? I never considered that kids would be doing that. My spelling was never great but I just always chalked it up to the way my brain worked. Even when I spent a couple years in college spending most of my free time reading books both to myself and our loud to my partner I still didn’t remember how certain words were spelt because I often didn’t write them. If I never wrote them as you are saying I imagine it would have been much worse.

    • juliebean@lemmy.zip
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      Its also cool to just be able to build a physical mechanism which digital clocks have no real feasible option to do

      i am delighted to be able to introduce you to flip clocks.

      • LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        I would rather learn how to build an analog clock. In the olden days clock makers were highly respected & incredibly intelligent, it’s quite an intellectual & mechanical art & science & craft to build an analog clock.

    • Droggelbecher@lemmy.world
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      Cursive is wayyyy more accessible for lots of people with chronic pain in their arm/hand/wrist. Also helps prevent those conditions for those who have do a lot of hand writing. I dread the day that people will no longer be able to read the least painful way to write or me.

      • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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        If I’m honest with myself my handwriting was always shit. If I was writing you a letter you’d be able to read it, but taking notes in college was all but useless for me. The speed at which you would have to write left me unable to find any of it legible so I was able to take in more information by just sitting down and listening/watching instead of scrambling to figure out what they were talking about now after I wrote down whatever I thought was important prior to that. Professors write fast because they do it all the time, and the amount of time it would take me to read then write what they wrote would overlap the time they spent over the next 15 seconds telling you why it was important. If I wrote down why it’s important I’m behind on the next bit of information and scrambling. When a professor posted their notes online so I could review it that way it was so much easier for me. (Makes note taking way easier)

        • Enekk@lemmy.world
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          What’s interesting about this is that we are not taught how to take notes. People used to have classes that taught what is actually a complicated skill. I have gone through enough schooling that my note taking just happens without much thought, but it took me real effort to get there.

          • joel_feila@lemmy.world
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            and I yet I had a class in note taking and then years latter got points taken off because I didn’t take like that teacher wanted

          • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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            I had a couple teachers try to spend a single class about note taking but I think note taking is different for everyone, much like learning styles. Telling someone to skip a,b, and ,c and just write d because they view it as the important information only works for people who think exactly how they think. So I would try something like that and would end up with.

            1974 - congress - didn’t pass till 1980.

            That means nothing to someone unless they know more context, which the context clues in my experience are tied to someone’s individual thought processes. In this case it would be mentions of maybe reconciliation process, simple majority, and budget. But for others it could be other things.

    • Mickey7@lemmy.worldOP
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      It is minor but part of a bigger problem. Show them a globe and ask them to point our where Austria is and then ask them where Australia is. Most couldn’t do it. And many wouldn’t even know the difference

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      We should make everyone mad. Don’t teach them to read analog clocks. Teach them to read digital clocks and sundials.

      • DeadMartyr@lemmy.zip
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        22 days ago

        Cursive is good for some people because arthritis, but most people do not use cursive aside from their signature.

        I spent a good chunk of 1st and 2nd grade learning it so I can read it but it really did not teach me anything. It’s not like learning a new way of thinking, it’s just muscle memory and practice.

        I’m not saying learning how to write is a waste of time, I write alot and while its typing now, I definitely needed to learn to use a pencil. But cursive is like learning how to type on a Devorak(?) keyboard

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    This has got to be AI written or cherry picked data. They’re pulling clocks to save a few $ if anything. Old schools used to have synchronized analog systems. I could easily see those things being removed.

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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      Really? I never knew any of them were synchronized, that’s cool if so. I seem to remember us pulling them off the wall at our schools and changing them twice a year or replacing the batteries. Having them wired with synchronization may be overboard, but it is kind of cool

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        Yep. The schools I went to had synchronized analog clocks. They would all “adjust” together if they were off at all. Some kind of clockwork solenoid.

        • LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
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          Yes I remember sometimes they would remotely adjust our clocks and you could see the hands moving quickly until they stopped in their intended position. Pretty genius for the old days.

      • hardcoreufo@lemmy.world
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        All my schools had them. Sometimes you’d catch them doing a resync and all the hands would spin around. I think they probably couldn’t rotate CCW so had to go around the long way if they needed to roll back a few minutes.

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        Could they be synchronised independently? My grandfather in France had a clock that was receiving a radio signal I think from Strasbourg. They’ve been around for a while. I remember being up late during day light hour change and i would suddenly hear the second hand rush forward. It would stop one whole hour on the switch back. I would use it to adjust my watch. Nowadays I use raw GPS and any mobile phone is synced from the network anyway.

    • -RJ-@lemmy.world
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      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.

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        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.

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        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.

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    30 days ago

    Every year I taught for the past 30 years I have heard this but I will say that every year I had to go over how to read a clock at the beginning of the year and every time a kid would ask me what time it is I would point at the clock and ask them what time they think it is? At least they left the class knowing how to read a clock even though they were shit at writing essays.

    • zerofk@lemmy.zip
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      About thirty years ago I was a teen. I remember talking with a girl only a few years younger than me, and being astounded that she didn’t know how to read an analogue clock.

      Exactly as you indicated, this is nothing new.

      • relativestranger@feddit.nl
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        29 days ago

        my sister (born in the late 1970s) graduated from high school and tech college without being able to tell time on a regular clock.

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    Analog clocks are just annoying, I support this change. Also let’s change format to 24hr format

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        24h analog clocks exist but they are pretty useless because you lose angular resolution. So unless you are a vampire that’s up 24/7 a 12 hour wall clock has better angular resolution than a clock with 33% wasted area you’ll never use/see because you are asleep

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            It’s about how far the hand moves in a given time. On a normal 12h circle analog clock the hand moves 30° per hour. On a 24h analog clock that’s halfed to 15° per hour.

    • I’m all in on 24hr clocks. I’m a veteran and currently work in healthcare. Use that 24hr times 40+ hours/week.

      But, I also like regular clocks. Especially BIG building clocks or old time 4 side post clocks you can still find on some corners of cities & towns around the globe.

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          Reading analogue and digital clocks are kinda a different skill and use different parts of the brain. That’s not to say either is better, it’s just different.

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          You can teach three year olds to read analog clocks (see my other post) but I’ve yet so see three year olds reading and understanding digital clocks. I get the feeling in this thread that everybody that has issues with analog clocks is from the US and that might come from the fact that the US (at least it seems based on this thread) has almost no exposure to analog clocks.

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    One part of me wants to feel disappointed that kids aren’t learning to read analog clocks, but another part of me thinks there was a time when people grew disappointed that the younger generations stopped learning to use an abacus in favor of digital calculators. I certainly don’t want some old geezer giving me shit because I don’t want to learn to use an abacus. I also don’t want to be that old geezer.

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        No doubt. I wasn’t trying to imply that either one is useless, but things change and new technology takes over. Another person replied to me comparing cursive and typing on a computer. I catch myself thinking that new generations are at a disadvantage because they don’t learn the same things I did. But it may not always be necessary that they do. I am of the computer typing generation. I didn’t learn to write beautiful cursive, but my life hasn’t been negatively impacted even though many people have expressed sympathy for my awful education. I was just trying to say I think it’s a rather normal thing for old systems to get phased out of a classroom from time to time. It’s not really a good reason to believe that younger generations are doomed. But like I said I fall into that line of thinking myself from time to time.

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      Teacher here.

      I’m pretty certain that the only place where my students ever encounter an analog clock is at school. But teaching how to read analog clocks is required in our math education standards, so I have one and I use it, even though I think there are other, more relevant places to put our academic focus.

      I’m 45 years old. I’m pretty sure we only ever had one analog clock in our house when I was growing up in the '80s, and that was my grandpa’s alarm clock. The only places I’ve been where only analog clocks were available have been schools. Even our local bank in my small town changed to a digital clock on its sign outside.

      Unfortunately, education systems are dictated by legislators, who are often old and out-of-touch. So I doubt we’ll see a change in the education requirements any time soon. But, just like how keyboarding has replaced cursive in classrooms, it will eventually come.

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        Are you from the US? I’m completely amazed that there are counties we you are almost never exposed to analog clocks. I’m from Europe and analog clocks are everywhere. Every train station, public buildings, churches, clock towers, homes, wrist watches. Heck we even have tons of (but more because of esthetics instead of serious time keeping) sun dials on walls (which the analog clock and the clock wise direction is based on - for the north hemisphere). Many appliances/devices have digital clocks but that’s not because the are more modern/better but because they are way cheaper to produce and have less moving parts.

        • Credibly_Human@lemmy.world
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          Europe has a lot more cultural attachment to their buildings as they have histories that go back a lot longer.

          Murica, doesn’t and its part of why they have such awful car centricity.

          The car lobbyists were basically allowed to design American cities.

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          Mind you, they are the people who measure area in “stadiums” and the distance in “football field lengths” because they are too stupid to comprehend the metric system.

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            Dpes no one in Europe ever use object for a reference. Like it’s as tall the efifle tower, or that like running 3 laps around a football feild.

            Of I were to say that America east to west would stretch from the straights of jerblarter to paar Istanbul. Does break their mind because they only understand km.

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          I’m from the US, but I’m currently a teacher in South America. Kids here are even worse at reading analog clocks than my students in the US were.

        • joel_feila@lemmy.world
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          Yeah the for a long timw the cheapest watches were digital ones. And omce led even old red ones you cloid make digital clocks very very cheap.

      • FelixCress@lemmy.world
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        Teacher here.

        I’m pretty certain that the only place where my students ever encounter an analog clock is at school.

        What the actual fuck? Are you not using wrist watches at all at whatever US hole you are a teacher at? Because most of these are analogue.

        • nickiwest@lemmy.world
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          Not currently teaching in a “US hole.” I’ve been teaching in South America for 5 years and I have never noticed an analog clock in a public place here.

        • Baizey@feddit.dk
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          Why would you use a wristwatch tho?

          And I’m saying this as a European

  • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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    I had to check the community to verify I accidentally opened c/fakeconservativememes.

    It was a relief when I realized this wasn’t c/Lemmy Shitpost.

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    It took me until age 15 to become comfortable reading analog clocks and confident knowing which way is left and right.

    Hey cut me some slack, left/right gets confusing sometimes because of mirrors & facing people).

    But I think learning how to tell time on an analog clock is an important skill because it broadens the mind regarding mechanics & mathematics, thereby developing more synapses in our brains & logic & mental computational skills.

  • Aneb@lemmy.world
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    I loved when a class would get quiet enough to hear the seconds hand click on the mechanical motor. I lived to see how close it was to the end of minute. One time in class I counted how black dots were on the ceiling. Wow I was bored

    • AntEater@discuss.tchncs.de
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      I counted the dots along the x axis, multiplied by the y axis count and took that as an estimate for the tile. Then did the same with the number of tiles across the ceiling. Then multiplied that by the number of classrooms… Same with the floor tiles. There was no end to it.

  • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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    To the title, that’s always been the case.

    “no child left behind” turned into “make it easier until everyone passes” Shit isn’t new. it’s been going on for a long, long ass time.

    • oppy1984@lemdro.id
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      The less educated a populous is, the less likely they are to think critically, think for themselves, and ultimately the easier they are to control.

      • Octavio@lemmy.world
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        It’s getting really bad. Some people even use “populous” when they mean “populace.”

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          It’s getting so bad that some people even put the period INSIDE the quotation mark at the end of a sentence!

          • jaupsinluggies@feddit.uk
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            It’s getting so bad that some people can’t distinguish between British and American punctuation conventions.

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      Do the blackboards in the US also say “breathe in, breathe out, repeat” so that half the class doesn’t just die?

      No that’s silly, there’s no guarantee that they could read that.

  • CrowAirbrush@lemmy.world
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    If the yung-uns have no drive to turn back time and actually use and develop their brains, because my gen isn’t going to rescue them and the boomers have also fallen into the internet trap. It’s on them to save themselves, really.

    If these trends keep going the way they are then idiocracy becomes reality.