Community Chat

[CelticCrafter]

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@MezzieStarr wrote:

A friend of mine in her 20s doesn't know how to tell time with an analog clock.  I discovered this a couple of years ago when she asked me the time and I said, "quarter to 3".  She looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language.  She admitted she didn't know how to tell time that way.  She said she didn't know how to read a "clock with hands."  She only understood digital.  Her 17 year old sister is the same way.  I was surprised.  

I asked her mother why she never taught them, she said she thought they would be taught in school and never were.  I'm in my 30s and my mother taught me and I'm sure we had lessons on it in school too. I offered to teach her to tell time and she just laughed at me and said she didn't need to know how.  Doesn't even own a clock, just uses her cell phone.

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Had the same experience - said quarter after 2 - blank stare and then said she didn't know what that was.

Not only can my daughter tell time on an analog, she can also do it on a clock with roman numerals!

[SaRina]

I thought all parents taught their children how to tell time. It's a very basic and important skill. It's the school's job to reinforce such skills.

I don't know if it's "pathetic" that children today do not know how to tell time on an analog clock -- it would be nice -- but there will definitely come a time that analog clocks become obsolete and it is no longer necessary to have this skill. I think we are in a transitional time as with other forms of communication. However, if I were a parent of a young child today, I would definitely teach them how.

[CANDLEQUEEN]

Yes, we taught our girls before kindergarten.....Now I can't speak for today, but my grandson knows how to tell time, so I think around here they are still teaching children. 

[jaxs mom]

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@noodleann wrote:

I still remember how a clock looked to me before I learned to tell time. It was this white disk with numbers all around the edge, plus black marks. There were two sticks, and I knew those sticks were the key to the whole mystery. My mother, who hadn't had a lot of luck teaching me other things, managed to teach me to tell time. I think I was around 4.

I mention this just to let you know that analogue clocks are not intuitive tools; they're actually quite strange if you don't know the meaning of those big and little hands. If people were never taught to tell time the old-fashioned way, you have to wonder why. It's a basic life skill that children should learn young, like tying their shoes, how to blow their nose, buttoning themselves up, and the like. Heck, even cats know enough to teach their kittens how to bathe themselves and basic hunting skills.

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Well if you want to talk about telling time the old fashioned way, that would be by the position of the sun with or without a sun dial. 

[Lipstickdiva]

I remember learning how to tell time in school.  I have no idea when but I specifically remember a bunch of blank clocks on a sheet of paper and below each clock the time was written.  We had to draw the hands on the clock for the correct time under each picture.  LOL  

However, I also remember the task being super easy because  my mom had already taught me.