My son asked, did I hear the latest news
about the region’s elementary schools?
“They’re dumping analog – they plan to use
all digital for classroom time.” “The fools,”
I said. He uttered “Kids can’t read the clock.”
And I responded “Why can’t they be taught?”
(My aim is not to censure or to mock,
but doesn’t school mean teaching? So I thought.)

It’s more than just a style choice at stake.
A clock face can be understood from far.
Aimed well in daylight, analog will make
a compass pointing sure as guiding star.
We don’t need more school theories to despise,
so let’s not render dead the term “clockwise.”