Most of the world uses a 24-hour clock. It’s only called “military time” here. It’s simple and avoids any confusion. Just like the metric system, college students should learn things outside their bubble.
We should be on the metric system too.
Right. But most of the kids who attend college here are from here.
I can’t see a whole lot of kids being confused by the times their classes meet-- “9 am” is pretty universally understood to mean 9 in the morning.
With all the things that colleges could consider changing, this one would never even make my radar. And there are so many things I would want college kids to learn-- plenty of “outside their bubble” things on the list before this one.
I see your point. But it’s not something I ever see happening.
Switching to the metric system comes WAY before switching time designations!!
I’m an engineer and SO tired of adding up dimensions all day like 3’-5 1/16" + 8’-8 7/8". It’s ridiculous.
Canada switched to the metric system starting in 1974. It was a multi year process. The US was going to watch the conversion, learn from any mistakes, and then begin the conversion here. Well, that never happened.
^Yeah, I remember learning metric in high school and they promised that we would be using it as adults. Sigh.
Yet for some odd reason the soda industry went metric: 2 liter bottle of Coke etc.
I think that was a matter of cost-- they could charge for a 2 liter what they used to charge for 2 quarts, and no one was the wiser.
Actually the liter size sodas have been around since the 1970’s and began as a result of PepsiCo predicting (wrongly) that metric was the wave of the US future and made the change it its line. Other brands joined around the time of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, figuring that was the future. Ooops.
Wine and liquor are also packaged in metric containers, but beer, for some reason, is still in ounces.
Also note, the original question is incredibly American-centric (well, Canada says military time as well). The rest of us call it 24-hour time. 
And 24-hour time is really what the OP is asking since military time, by definition, does not use a colon.
“Switching to the metric system comes WAY before switching time designations!!”
Agree!
When was the last time a politician mentioned metric conversion? They have a lot of other fish to fry.
Yes, seems they are just inching along (and we’d lose that expression…)
@jym626 Somehow centimetering along doesn’t have the same ring to it. 
Oddly watching the BBC I have heard some use miles for distance at times.
And while the big liter bottles are in metric, the smaller bottles and cans are still in oz.
Yes, when we visited England we were surprised that all the highway signs referred to miles, not kilometers.
Not that surprising. After all, they also drive on the wrong side of the road. =))
Plus in the quintessential pub, one still orders a pint (or a half) of beer. But here again, liquor is dispensed in ml’s.
And many male Brits still give their weight in stones.
A gallon may be 4.54609 liters or 3.785411784 liters depending on where you are.
And then there is the imperial gallon!
And not to be overlooked is a measure used by MIT: the smoot.
That’s the 4.546 liter one.
Actually I believe it was the car industry that kept us from metric system because of all the tooling