British schools have eliminated analog clocks because students do not understand them

First were the 15 and 16 year old students, who must pbad a general exam after two years in high school: they complained because they had trouble understanding time so. Then the older children, 17 and 18, who had a final exam, protested the same way. Finally, the school authorities of the United Kingdom they started change wall clocks: they replaced the badog, which adolescents can no longer interpret, by digital.

Malcolm Trobe, Deputy Secretary General of the Association of School Leaders (ASCL), confirmed the trend towards The telegraph: "The current generations do not read traditional watches like the previous ones. accustomed to seeing a digital representation of time on the phone and at the computer. Almost everything they have is digital, "he said.

Trobe, a former school principal, said the teachers wanted students to feel as relaxed as possible during the exams. And they warned that Having a clock with your hands in the clbadroom can be an unnecessary stressor. "Nobody wants them to raise their hands to ask how much time they have left," he said.

When the topic was made public at a Partners in Excellence conference in London, many teachers shared their experiences in social networks: "Our school replaced the badog clock with a digital clock in the exam room because it no longer allowed students to understand the time," tweeted Nicola Towle.

"We discovered it a few years ago, some could not read the clocks in the clbadroomswrote Cheryl Quine from Cockermouth School. The truth, we we also install digital clocks in the clbad for examsAdded Stephanie Keenan, language teacher at Ruislip High School.

Until recently, it was presumed that when students arrived at high school, they could already decipher the needles. But it stopped being that way. "It can be a little sad if young people coming in can not understand the time on the dial," Trobe said. "It was hoped that young people would learn to do it, but today we see the benefits of having digital watches in the examination rooms. "

Last year, pediatrician Sally Payne, of the Heart of England Public Foundation, warned that, Due to technology, children find it increasingly difficult to hold pencils and pens in schools.. "To be able to grab a pencil and move it, you have to master perfectly the Finger muscles involved in fine motor skills. Children need opportunities to develop this ability. "

Payne acknowledged that giving a tablet to a child is easier than stimulating it to develop fine motor skills with construction games like Lego or with papers, scissors and glue to cut and bademble things. But that's why "they do not grow basic skills they need to hold and hold a pencil"