So here is an issue that really troubles me...a large portion of today's youth cannot tell time. When someone wants to use a computer here at the library they have to sign-in on our time log. This process consist of writing your name and the current time of day.
Simple enough...right?
Well, there is an alarmingly high number of teens of come through here that can't tell what time it is by looking at an analog clock. We have a clock hanging right behind the circ desk so all you have to do is look straight up and there it is. It's funny a lot of patrons know the clock is there, yet every time they sign they say "what time is it" my reaction to this is always the same I point to the clock and say "there is a clock right there" unless of course I can see some reason to just go ahead and tell them the time. The other thing that happens is, they write their name and then look at the clock (usually for a long period of time) and then say "What time is it?". To which my reply is the same, at that they usually just guess the time or they just don't write a time and walk off. What really takes the cake though, is today a lady who is at least in her mid-thirties came in and said "I wanna play computer" so I hand her the sign-in sheet, she writes her name and some random numbers and says " you can just make up a time I didn't know what to put" I say there is a clock right there (slightly stressing the RIGHT THERE part) and she says " I know, but I didn't know what to put". I almost wanted to laugh out loud, I mean seriously this woman is a mother of 3 children, she drives a vehicle on the open road, but she can't tell time.
It disturbs me!
I'm veering off course here, the point is there are entirely too many of today's youth that cannot tell time.
When I have children I will make a point to make sure they develop skills like that very early on.
