“What time is it?,” has become a famous question at Bakersfield College. That’s because few clocks here keep the correct time.

Sometimes, classes run over, causing students to be late to the next class.

“Some clocks are actually right because of when time fell back,” said engineering major Richard Knight.

But until the next time change, students may have to depend on an alternative way to tell time.

Some use the buddy system, which is to make sure someone in the group has a watch; others depend on cell phones; and some spend valuable seconds looking around for someone wearing a watch.

Science professor Richard Darke got lucky. “We had to change ours. I was in class with the stockroom guy, and I said we have to get that clock set and he helped me set it.”

Most of the clocks in the Science and Engineering building are correct thanks to students and teachers who decided to do the job themselves.

Others, however, aren’t so lucky.

“My sociology teacher locks us out and we don’t know what time it is. We have to depend on what time she says it is,” said Mike Lundrum, a history major.

Shae Cox, a computer science major, has figured out the percentage of clocks that work.

“Out of four classes, only one works. Usually, I only tell time by when everyone else is going to class, so when they’re late, I’m late.”

BC hopes to install battery-operated clocks. Robert Day, director of auxilary services and custodial and grounds, said, “We have 372 new clocks. We wanted the atomic ones, but they are $300 each. So we plan to install new battery-operated ones by spring semester.”

But until then, students may have to keep track of time by listening to the bells chime every half-hour.