{"id":473499,"date":"2025-12-26T20:14:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T20:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/473499\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T20:14:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T20:14:11","slug":"nyc-schools-discover-teens-cant-read-clocks-after-cellphone-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/473499\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC schools discover teens can\u2019t read clocks after cellphone ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

Time got away from them!<\/p>\n

New York City teachers have found that scores of teenagers can\u2019t read traditional clocks after a cellphone ban in schools<\/a> statewide \u2014 because students figured the skill would be useless in the digital era, according to a report.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe constant refrain is \u2018Miss, what time is it?\u2019\u201d said Madi Mornhinweg, who teaches high school English in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

Many teens have no clue what time it is during the course of the school day, teachers said. Prostock-studio \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a source of frustration because everyone wants to know how many minutes are left in class,\u201d she told Gothamist.<\/a> \u201cIt finally got to the point where I started saying, \u2018Where\u2019s the big hand and where\u2019s the little hand?’\u201d<\/p>\n

Many tech-minded teens have no clue what time it is during the course of the school day because classrooms generally only have analog clocks on the walls, teachers told the outlet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a major skill that they\u2019re not used to at all,\u201d Tiana Millen, an assistant principal at Cardozo High School in Queens, said. \u201cThey don\u2019t know how to read the clocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some students said they learned how to read clocks in first grade but later forgot the basic skill because it was an antiquated practice.<\/p>\n

Students can\u2019t bring their smartphones to school, thanks to a statewide ban. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just forgot that skill because they never used it, because they always pulled out their phone,\u201d Cheyenne Francis, 14, who attends Midwood High School in Brooklyn, told Gothamist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know how to read a clock,\u201d she added. \u200a\u201cThe only time I guess I would struggle is if the time is wrong on the clock. Because sometimes they don\u2019t set the proper time.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s statewide smartphone ban<\/a>\u00a0went into effect Sept. 4 for the 2025-26 school year, with few other downsides, according to educators.<\/p>\n

A statewide cellphone ban in schools went into effect in September. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n

Big Apple teachers said the ban has helped kids focus in class, socialize better at lunch and move more swiftly through hallways.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an ironic twist, it also helps them get to class on time \u2014 even though they can\u2019t read the clocks.<\/p>\n

Parents and teachers have long blamed technology for a range of lapsed skills \u2014 from poor penmanship to short attention spans \u2014 even as Gen-Z runs technological laps around older folks.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAt NYCPS (New York City Public Schools), we recognize how essential it is for our students to tell the time on both analog and digital clocks,\u201d city Department of Education spokesperson Isla Gething told Gothamist.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs our young people are growing up in an increasingly digital world, no traditional time-reading skills should be left behind.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kids are taught to master terms including \u201co\u2019clock,\u201d \u201chalf-past\u201d and \u201cquarter-to\u201d in early elementary years, school officials said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Time got away from them! New York City teachers have found that scores of teenagers can\u2019t read traditional…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":473500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,17441,407,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,11645,3060,6620,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-473499","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-cell-phones","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-school","19":"tag-schools","20":"tag-time","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-us-news","27":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115787704968575309","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}