With the whole world moving in the direction of everything digital, kids are missing out on the chance to learn how to use analog clocks. The problem is, plain and simple, the modernization of the world is making it harder for kids to learn analog, simply because the digital is right at their fingertips.
United States schools are taking analog clocks down and replacing them with digital, like teachers in the United Kingdom have already done, because students are getting distracted by them. They are spending too much time trying to figure out how much longer they have until class is over or worrying that they don’t have enough time to finish an exam, which is making it hard for them to concentrate on what they are doing. This alone is causing many students to struggle academically, because of the lack of ability to concentrate on school work, since they can’t figure out how much time they have left to finish assignments or exams. Kids back in the day could read the analog clocks because they knew how to properly use them. It is no longer a useful art, as digital clocks are just more popular now. Kids are overly exposed to the digital world now days and that makes it harder to teach them how to read an analog clock. Even if you have an analog clock, there always seems to be a digital option within reach which will provide a quicker answer of “what time is it?”
Sadly, it’s not just the younger children that are having trouble telling time, even the ability of high school aged kids able to tell time on an analog clock has decreased over the years. Students are complaining about having trouble keeping track of how much time they have left when taking an exam or are rushing through their exams to make sure they don’t run out of time because of their lack of ability to tell time on an analog clock.
Time management has become a big issue in schools, due to the fact that analog clocks cannot be properly read by students. The use of digital clocks are allowed in order to help students improve their academic performance. Allowing digital clocks in schools was something that was done to benefit the students learning ability and help them to be more relaxed during exams and other timed assignments. Teachers also benefit from it, because they are receiving the students full attention as opposed to students looking at the clock all the time trying to figure it out.
The optimism is high in the educational system that they can continue to teach students to not rely on digital clocks all the time and learn how to use analog clocks throughout their schooling. This will continue to be an ongoing obstacle in schools all over the world as digital becomes more and more popular and available to people of all ages.
