Tomorrow, Meghan Markle will shock the world when she begins her walk down the aisle alone, asserting independence as a feminist, then escorted by Prince Charles, her future father-in-law, on her way to becoming the first black member of the House of Windsor.
But that’s not the only headline shocking the system: Analog clocks, which have long-adorned classroom walls, stately entries and, of course, on Big Ben, are going the way of fruitcake for weddings.
With the rise of cell phones and digital clocks, the U.K. has run into a modern problem: students are having trouble reading analog clocks. This issue has become so rampant that officials in the U.K. have begun removing analog clocks from examination halls and classrooms, according to recent reports.
Teachers in the U.K. found that students all the way through high school are struggling with telling time -- but this problem is not unique to those who fly a Union Jack. The problem has traveled across the pond and children in the U.S. are struggling to read the clock as well.
Despite reading analog clocks being included in the U.S. Common Core Curriculum, a recent study in Oklahoma City found that only 1-in-10 kids ages 6-12 own a watch, and only 1-in-5 of those children know how to read their watch.
Contrary to these reports, analog is here to stay.
"The skills that you need to read an analog clock are skills that kids when they’re young begin to learn," Carol Burris, former educator and current executive director of the Advocacy Network for Public Education told CBS News. "There’s a lot of very complex mathematical manipulations that are involved in being able to tell time with an analog clock. It takes some of the math skills students are learning and gives them an important real-world context."
Aside from improving math skills, knowing how to tell time on an analog clock can help students better estimate the amount of time left to complete a task. The round clock face offers a better visual representation of time and offers a simple reminder of the cyclical nature of time.
To combat students’ anxieties about telling time, teachers around the world are turning to the Time Timer ® to help students understand analog clocks. The Time Timer helps students of all ages and abilities see and understand the passage of time because it mimics the function of an analog clock, helping students to better grasp how a clock can help them manage their time. The disappearing disk on the Time Timer provides a visual representation of time, which can be beneficial to those learning (or even for those who are more experienced at reading the clock). Time Timer watches features both a digital and analog clock to help transition kids from digital to a more traditional way of telling time.
At the very least, when your cell phone dies, or your Smartwatch is stuck on an analog watch face, you can walk into a train station, look up and figure out the time of your departure.
The royal wedding is coming up, and if every cell phone battery in Buckingham Palace dies, it is comforting to know that an analog clock can save the day and keep the event on track (not to mention, your analog watch could remind you not to miss the wedding on TV). Prince Harry is a known-watch enthusiast, and it will likely be his trusted analog watch that gets him to the church on time.