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Wstrdg
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Posted: Thu Dec 6th, 2007 03:30 pm |
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Last night I was fortunate enough to attend the first West coast screening of this documentary. It's been screened only a few times in the US, plus in India and China, at the participating high schools.
Here's a link to the trailer: http://www.2mminutes.com/ (Caution: there seems to be a music band by the same name, don't get confused.)
The premise is simple. Four years of high school equates to roughly 2MM minutes. The film examines how two upper middle-class students spend those minutes in three high schools, all "good" but not great schools, in the US, China and India.
I predict you will be seeing more about this film. If you can afford it, buy a copy and re-gift for XMAS!
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Canadian
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Posted: Fri Dec 7th, 2007 06:48 am |
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Thanks, very interesting.
I think this is perhaps a companion piece:
From “60 Minutes”, about kids under 26 in the workplace.
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3486473n
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Wstrdg
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Posted: Fri Dec 7th, 2007 05:06 pm |
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Canadian, I don't think there is a connection between the two films.
Two Million Minutes has just partnered with the Gates Foundation and the Broad Foundation to be shown in the primary states as part of "Ed in '08," an initiative to bring the education issue into the foreground of the presidential race.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=ind_focus.story&STORY=/www/story/12-03-2007/0004715768&EDATE=MON+Dec+03+2007,+04:20+PM
The film profiles two US hs seniors, two Shanghai seniors and two Bangalore seniors. The Indian and Chinese students do little besides school. The Indian boy "goofs off" with online chess and pick-up soccer, much to his dad's dismay. The Indian girl gets up pre-dawn to run on a treadmill. The Chinese girl is a top-ranked violinist (her safety major) and also takes ballet. The Chinese boy participates in math competitions. That's the extent of their extra-curricular life. All four attend cram schools or tutorials.
In contrast, the US kids have sports, school social activities, school leadership (govt and yearbook or newspaper, I forget which), part-time job, dating, etc. Both US kids are BMOC in their high school (one of the better public high schools).
The Dean of Rensselear Polytech, Shirley Jackson, is in the film, and she says it's not that US kids don't work hard. But they work at part-time jobs and ec's, rather than spending those minutes on academics.
At 17, the Chinese and Indian parents have selected careers for their children. The US parents want them their kids to "be happy," and the US dad even discredits a career in computer science. The Indian girl says life in the US must be "like a dream," with homework only when you want to.
Other experts in the film: Vivek Paul (WiPro), who credits economic necessity as the motivation for Chinese/Indian students. Richard Freeman (Harvard econ), who describes the "flattening" of the global economy. Vivian Stewart (Asia Society), who cautions that science teachers from the Sputnik generation are retiring without adequate replacement. More here: http://www.2mminutes.com/characters.html#paul
The US kids wind up at Big State U (pre-med) and Purdue (full Natl Merit academic scholarship). The Indians and Chinese are admitted purely on academics and testing, and none of the four attain their dream school & major. The Indians do pursue engineering, but at their second choice school. The Chinese boy is admitted to a less desirable major. The Chinese girl is admitted to a top Chinese school, but not Yale, and not in her desired major.
The film says Chinese spend almost 600,000 minutes on school, the Indians 500,000+, and the US kids less than 300,000. The Chinese number was almost twice the US number. We have shorter school years, shorter school weeks, and shorter school days. And our schools are not focused solely on academics.
At the end of the screening, the exec producer Bob Compton opened the floor to Q&A. He said questions most asked by viewers in India were: (1) Do the Chinese really study that much more than us? (2) Why do US parents push their kids so hard in sports, even to the point of injury?
The questions most asked by US audiences seemed to center on (1) disbelief, and (2)quality of education: discrediting learning by rote drill.
The fact is, however, that the US isn't learning math and science at a globally-competitive pace: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content//article/2007/12/04/AR2007120400730.html?hpid=topnews
As the exec producer put it, if the US trained for the Olympics the way we train in math and science, we wouldn't have medals. Training is drilling.
Personal note: My D couldn't go with me to see the film because she had an after-school tutor session, homework, a 90 minute ballet class, and then homework until I got home at 10 pm. She says that math and science "just don't come naturally to me, Mom, so that's why I have to study so hard." She has A+'s in both, BTW. I told her, don't worry, sweetie, you're doing it just like everybody else does it: hard work.
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Canadian
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Posted: Fri Dec 7th, 2007 05:40 pm |
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Wstrdg,
"The US parents want their their kids to 'be happy' "
I think the point of the 60 Minutes show was that this attitude, divorced from teaching some of the realities of growing up to be productive adults, has had disturbing effects on the 18-26 year old generation of workers.
To me, both shows are part of a broader picture.
And don't get me wrong. Of course I want my kids to be "happy". The question is, What does that mean?
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Wstrdg
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Posted: Fri Dec 7th, 2007 06:13 pm |
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Canadian,
Two of the films' personalities were at the screening in Palo Alto. Both are fathers to school-age kids. They each view the new global economy and the inadequacy of our present US school system as a serious threat to the futures of their children. Both are working to ensure that their own kids are competing globally, and not locally/nationally. Success in the new global economy would be "happy."
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Wstrdg
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Posted: Mon Dec 10th, 2007 03:32 pm |
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http://2mm.typepad.com/usa/2007/12/radio-interview.html
NPR interviews Exec Producer about Two Million Minutes
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Current time is 06:41 pm | |
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