The Two Million Minutes Blog

America Does NOT Need a National Academic Proficiency Test

Todays New York Times Editorial "Test and Switch" chides the States that have so watered down their proficiency tests as to be meaningless.

They write - "Congress hoped that if it required the states to give annual tests in return for federal education aid, state politicians would be encouraged — or at least embarrassed — into improving dismal schools ...That’s not how things have worked out. Many states have gamed the system — and misled voters — devising weak tests, setting low passing scores or changing tests from year to year to prevent accurate comparisons over time. The charade will continue, and children will continue to be shortchanged, until the country develops a rigorous national test keyed to national standards."

While the New York Times is on the right track they are only about 5 years late. The time for National Standards has passed - America needs to measure itself against a Global Education Standard - one that fairly compares our best and brightest with the best and brightest around the world. And that compares our average students with average students in all nations.

I believe that if we start comparing ourselves to Global Education Standards, not only will our average students fair poorly, our best students will be behind the best students of India and China - and there are 7 times more of them than of US top students.

That has profound implications for our country's economy in the decades ahead. America is behind the largest countries in the world in education standards and NEAP, TIMMS and State tests simply further mislead the American people.

Download test_and_switch_new_york_times.pdf

Christian Science Monitor on Global Education and Two Million Minutes Documentary

From the November 14th Christian Science Monitor. As part of a larger article on Global Education, Monitor reporter Stacy Teicher Khadaroo also reported on the Harvard screening of Two Million Minutes. Download worlds_schools_teach_U.S. a lesson.pdf

"You can see the future of a country in the aspirations of its first-graders," entrepreneur and venture capitalist Robert Compton told an audience of Harvard graduate students Nov. 2. In visits to India, he's met young children who wanted to be doctors, engineers, or scientists of some sort. He wants more Americans to get a glimpse of their future competition.

Working with filmmakers and Teach for America vets Chad Heeter and Adam Raney, Mr. Compton produced "Two Million Minutes," a documentary about how three pairs of top students – in China, India, and the United States – spent their time in high school (four years add up to roughly 2 million minutes).

The Indian and Chinese students and their families show a single-minded focus on academics, partly because competition for university slots is so fierce. A Chinese mom and dad tell how their son used to make up his own tests because he loved them so much. The American students enjoy being well-rounded, with part-time jobs, Friday night football games, and study nights in front of the TV. College applications may be stressful for some, but one of the pair has already been offered a full merit scholarship early in his senior year.

After watching the film, some students took issue with the implication that Americans should be more like the Chinese and Indians – more driven to score high on science and math tests, perhaps at the expense of other strengths. A student from a South Korean family pointed out that many Asian students just party once they hit college because they're so burned out.

Compton responded that he didn't mean the film to be prescriptive. But he stressed that if Americans don't pay more attention to advances in education around the world – the way a sports team studies top competitors – they're in danger of being left behind.

Harvard law student Neil Shah said he could see both sides, but agreed with the basic premise: "We should learn from other systems, take what's working, and incorporate it into our own."

Indy Channel 8 News Interviews Bob Compton

Channel 8 News in Indianapolis previewed the film Two Million Minutes and interviewed Executive Director, Bob Compton on November 12th.

Indiana Futures Conference Screens Two Million Minutes Documentary

On November 12th & 13th, JP Morgan sponsored the 2007 Indiana's Future Conference at the University of Indianapolis. The conference theme was Equity, Engagement & Education for Economic Success;
Transforming Today’s Schools for Tomorrow’s World.

Two Million Minutes was a featured portion of the conference, screening both days to a packed room of nearly 200 teachers, principals and school superintendents. The film was very well received and the post screening Q & A period was lively and provocative.

As a result of this screening, we received more than a dozen requests to present the film at other venues around the state of Indiana.

Two Million Minutes on Inside Indiana Business TV

On November 8, 2007, Bob Compton was interviewed by Gerry Dick, host of Inside Indiana Business about the new documentary Two Million Minutes.

Harvard Graduate Students Screen Two Million Minutes Documentary

   

Thanks to the organizational efforts of Harvard Law student Elena Medina, we had the opportunity to screen the 4th cut of Two Million Minutes for a room full of Harvard graduate students from the Law School, the Kennedy School of Government and the School of Education.

We certainly felt welcomed and we were delighted to get such a large, engaged and animated crowd on a Friday night. They not only enjoyed the film – they stayed for over two hours to discuss and debate the implications of the explosion of educated talent emanating from India and China – for the US and for US education. It was a lively, sometimes even feisty, debate.

Surveying the students before the film, we learned that only a couple had visited Indian or Chinese schools, and none were aware of the magnitude of the school systems in these countries - both 4.5 times larger than the US school system.

So it was gratifying to be able to share some new information through both our film and our first hand experiences in India and China with these future leaders of US government and the US educational system.

Even though our film was their first introduction to high school in India and China, the graduate students proved to be quick studies. They were able to articulate strong opinions on the flaws in the other education systems and were very adept at defending the strengths of the US education system, such as equal opportunity for all and the quality of outcomes.

The Graduate Education School students, in particular, had strong views on the film. Most argued that the US education system is superior to India and China because it puts less stress on the students and less emphasis on rote learning of math and science. A few in the group, however, seemed open to the notion that we might have something to learn from India and China. One thought bandied about was what if we treated education with as much intensity, investment and passion as we do high school athletics, students might benefit intellectually.

Given my observations and experiences in all three countries over the past 30 years, I have to agree with the latter group. Our current “group think” about education must change – more of the same is not going to prepare American students for global competition.

I suspected this thinking would be the minority at Harvard, but I was surprised by the passion with which many defended the status quo…and therein is the crux of the problem, in my view.

Fortunately, there are people in education who want and demand change, and yes, they're a minority voice. We have one of the most respected voices in our film -- Shirley Ann Jackson, who authored the report "The Quiet Crisis" which led to "Rising Above the Gathering Storm." I’m sticking with her.

All in all, I have to admire the self-confidence the “best and the brightest” at Harvard demonstrated in the discussion and I appreciated the opportunity to have such a lively discussion with so many smart future leaders. When we sat down to create this film, we set out to make a film that would shake people up -- not put people to sleep. Looks like we've been successful.