Can’t Read Analog Clocks

Only 43% of Americans under 30 can instantly read an analog clock, compared to 95% of those 65 and older, a YouGov poll finds. In addition, only 53% of adults read at the Sixth Grade level, and only about 50% of K-12 students are taught to read cursive.

Signs of the times:

• A school found that most students could not read the analog clocks on the wall. As a result, the school did not teach the kids to read analog clocks, it removed the clocks, thus concealing the deficit.

• My wife gave an address to a very bright waiter in his 20s. He confessed that he could not read it, because it was in cursive.

• I addressed a letter very clearly in cursive. It was returned marked “undeliverable” by the US Postal Service. I readdressed it to the same address in hand printing, and it was delivered promptly. Apparently not only the personnel of the Postal Service cannot read cursive, neither can the machines.

AI can’t do everything for our young people. Some things they will have to do for themselves. Will they be able to? Stay tuned. What does all this say about the motives of our educational system?