National Association of High School Principals Takes Exception to Two Million Minutes

Apparently the National Association of Secondary School Principals obtained a copy of my film and took it as being an attack on US high schools - which of course it is not.

You can read their critique here

I posted a reply to their blog, but it must be approved first by the principals before it appears on their site. In the interim, here is my response:

As the creator and Executive Producer of Two Million Minutes, I thought I might offer a few comments to this post.

First, I'm sorry that you felt the film was biased. Both the Director and Producer of the documentary hold Master's degrees in Journalism from Berkeley and we took every reasonable step to make the film as objective as possible.

Ironically, the largest buyers of the DVD on our web site are, in fact, high school teachers and principals - they seem to be using the film to help their students become more globally aware in a Flat World.

To address your specific criticisms: We did not "stack the deck". The three schools were chosen for these reasons: 1) they represent the upper echelon of high school education in each country and 2) the families of the students have relatively similar socio-economic backgrounds.

The specific students were selected as follows: 1) we asked the administrators of each school for students academically in the top 5% and 2) we also asked for students who were held in high regard by their peers.

In America, Neil is class president, was on the varsity football team, on the school newspaper and got a full scholarship to study Computer Graphics at Purdue his junior year of high school. Brittany graduated #28 in her class of nearly 1,000, was involved in numerous school activities and was seen as a leader. She is currently 4.0 pre-med at Indiana University.

In China, the boy chosen was ranked #1 in math in his school - something that his peers in China regard highly. However, as the movie shows, despite his obvious math skill he was rejected by the Math Program at Beijing University - because so many other Chinese students were even more gifted in math. He did not get into the college of his choice.

The same is true of the Chinese girl - she is smart, a talented violinist and ballet dancer, but she was rejected by Yale - her first choice.

The Indian students experienced the same outcome - they are clearly smart, have studied incredibly hard for years, but they are rejected by the top Indian colleges - because thousands of Indians scored higher on the entrance exams.

So, while the intensity of the Indian and Chinese students may, to American eyes, make them appear to be tops in their country, in fact, they are far from the top.

I have spent a lot of time in Indian and Chinese schools, as well as American schools. I would contend that the work ethic you see is entirely accurate for all three countries for the upper half of typical high school students.

Your observation about engineering. In hindsight, I regret I did not devote more time to the other subjects that Indian and Chinese students study in high school. In fact, they study subjects typical of American schools - for example Apoorva, the Indian girl in the film, had the following curriculum in 9th and 10th grade: English language, English literature, Hindi language and literature [2nd language], World History and Civics, World Geography, Algebra, Geometry, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Computer Programming (elective).

In 11th and 12th, she chose a more technical track, not dissimilar from Brittany's interest in preparing for pre-med: English Language and Literature, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics through Calculus, Biology, Computer Science and Environmental Education (a newly required course). During middle school, art and music are standard subjects as are more social sciences.

I employee over 100 Indians and Chinese - engineers, business majors, teachers, artists and general administrative people. From my personal experience, I have found both cultures to produce very well rounded individuals - smart, creative, socially adept, with wonderful senses of humor. They are also excellent in math and science, but they are decidedly not simply "left-brained" nerds. For their ages, they do know more about math and science than their American peers, but that knowledge has not been gained at the sacrifice of literature, history, geography, politics, art or music.

Finally, you assert that I used "statistical slight of hand" by not showing Chinese and Indian dropout rates. There is only so much one can cover in 54 minutes, but my intent was not to deceive.

Below are the current enrollment statistics on each country. It is true a large percentage of Indians and Chinese do not even get to high school. But their absolute numbers are so large that a high drop out rate still leaves a lot of students getting an education. I'm not sure America can take much comfort in Indian and Chinese drop out rates.

ENROLLMENT IN EACH COUNTRY -

US: K-8 - 38 million students, H.S. - 16 million, College -17 million

China: K-8 - 170 million students, H.S. - 24 million, College - 16 million

India: K-8 - 176 million students, H.S.- 35 million, College - 8 million

I'm sorry you took my film as critical of American high schools - that was not the intent. Rather I had hoped to show how students in each country allocate their time - between school, study, sports, extracurricular activities and jobs.

What the film illustrates is that students allocate their time very differently in each country based mostly on families, community recognition and their culture - not simply because of the school system.

The question I hoped to raise with the film was - does it matter to America's economic future that Indian and Chinese students spend more time building their intellectual foundation than American students? We tried to show the simple reality in each country, and then let each viewer draw their own conclusion.

I hope U.S. educators will view Two Million Minutes as an opportunity to gain insight into the educational priorities and practices of the two largest countries on Earth and not as criticism of American high schools.

Comments

[Edith]

Good Day, All...

I am still wondering why it is SO imperative that we keep up this competition. If it is to be number one...then, we are the proverbial cats chasing our tails.

This "best-all-comers" mentality can be applied to whatever topic one decides to choose, be it cultural, educational, economic or otherwise.

The type of change needed to improve our society, as a whole (not: "keep up or catch up") begins in the individual household...the brunt of the responsibility cannot be placed on the educators and/or teaching institutions, alone...

This includes changing the attitudes of Americans that have been formed over generations...no easy task, I assure you.

I will also restate my sincere belief that the reasons for this type of cultural/educational change needs to be more than 'keeping up with' someone or -thing...folks have to instill that desire to learn and excel (that hunger, if you will) not because they need to "keep up" but because the lives of the children (and adults) will be better served if these mind sets are introduced and made the flourish. This will benefit all parties and organizations concerned...from bottom to top.

It's a complicated situation made even more difficult and puzzling due to vague negatives, generalizations and cultural "under and over-estimations".

I commend your efforts but I caution rash opinion-making because true action is required to reform or overhaul a system that has been in place for so long...

Nankurunaisa.
Edith

[Anand Pandit]

Hi,
I just saw an article in Indiana Business Magazine about your movie today and, I must say, I'm impressed. The entrepreneurial mind-set must be brought into primary and secondary education, as it is in the collegiate system, in order for the US to successfully compete internationally.

I really would like to see this film. Please tell me where I can get obtain it--I might even give a copy to our superintendent here, who in his first year is making some fantastic changes to our school corporation.

NOTE FROM BOB COMPTON: The DVD may be purchased at www.2Mminutes.com

[Samir]

Being an IITian from India who has since migrated to the US- I have first hand exposure to the competition portrayed in the movie.

I was having lunch with a buddy of mine from mainland China one day and talking about the future of our ABC (American Born Chinese) and ABCD (American Born Confused Desis) offsprings- which prompted me to do some online search and I discovered the movie.

I ordered the movie to watch with my 10 year old daughter. I wanted her to hear it from somebody else that education was important even though from her viewpoint, it doesn't make much of a difference in life. I knew I couldn't instill in her the sense of hunger that I had as a kid and still do as a first generation immigrant- but wanted her to understand why she needs to push herself even though it may seem pointless at the time.

Having watched the movie- I am disappointed. The "consequence" is described by "experts" talking to the camera. The 4 kids in the movie from India and China didn't get what they wanted as their first choice in college, despite all the work. The 2 US kids got what they wanted or better. The irony was not lost on my 10 year old.

The consequence or crisis due to lack of competitive education is not just external- we live through it right now in the US. I have looked at average income based on educational attainment (check the US census site) and compared with average living expenses. Add in savings for retirement. That picture is shocking. Only folks with professional education, or a doctoral degree can afford a single income family and have enough money to live and save for retirement. This currently represents 4% of the US population. Economic globalization is lowering the floor on the remaining 96%. But bottomline- even now, 96% of us are forced to make choices in life that are triggered by lack of educational attainment.

Without the context of consequences, the movie fails to get the primary point across- despite warnings from "experts" that the system is broken, there is no proof shown, on the contrary- based on the kids' experiences, the current system is working just fine for American teenagers.

[Rupa Krishnamurthy]

I haven't seen the movie yet, I've only heard the WBUR interview with the producer, but I'm excited to watch it when it comes back to Harvard. My parents are Indian immigrants, coming to the States in the 1970's where my brother and I were born. I'm an ivy league educated physician at one of the Harvard hospitals. My brother received his PhD from Harvard in chemical biology and now works for a consulting firm. I definitely believe that the emphasis my parents placed on education growing up, had everything to do with the success that we have accomplished academically. My father went to IIT (the engineering school that Bill Gates says is the best in the world) and my mother is also a physician. This debate resonates with the numerous debates we had in our household - should we pursue liberal arts education, or science, etc. But, I don't think emphasizing education, necessarily has to be at the expense of creating well rounded individuals. I was captain of my tennis team, state president of NHS, and eventually won a leadership scholarship to Duke, all with the blessings of my parents. I do think one important thing they were strict about was dating - neither my brother nor I were allowed to date until we were 16, my mother as a psychiatrist, believed it was important for us to form our own self-concept, concentrate upon our schoolwork and our friends, before getting invovled in relationships. I kicked, screamed and fought this edict when I was young, but now, I am extremely thankful for it. I think if more American teens are directed in such a manner by their parents, that they will have more success - and i'm not saying that no one should date until they're 16, but the importance assigned to education was within our household, and not necesarily in the school system. It requires a cultural shift in America. And, this is not to say that we need to emulate the school systems in India or China - I truly believe that I'm a very balanced individual because I was born and raised here. But, there's a reason that Asian-Americans occupy a much larger percentage in the elite colleges and graduate schools than their populations in the U.S.

[Andrea]

I am American Homeschooling parent and while I don't exactly take exception with the movie 2million minutes, I have found the title and concept within itself unrealistic. 2million minutes is roughly based on every breathing moment of a students life from the moment he finishes the 8th grade until graduation. No child, Chinese, Indian, or otherwise spends that kind of time in his studies... still I get the point. As I mentioned in my blog post(Did anyone do the math?) I think the real problem in schools is unrealistic expectations. Kids need time of focussed learning as well as time to be kids.

[cztubeme]

It will be interesting to conduct a study of 2 million minutes spent by Americans of different heritage. I bet you that the Asian Americans tend to allocate their time much similar to the Chinese and Indians.

[Mark R. Williams]

I think this documentary is great and illustrates how our educational system and our students (I don't take the tack that all the blame lies with the educators) are failing. We need to wake up because you can be sure that brain power, science, math, and technology are the four things that drive a successful and prosperous society. I think the main thing is we need to put more emphasis on science and technology classes and less on other subjects such a history, english, sociology, etc, which are good subjects, but fields that are hard to find everyday jobs in unless you teach them. I have German friend and we may also need to adopt a system more like theirs. They seek and seperate the kids interested in technology and science careers around early high school age and these kids are put into seperate schols or systems with emphasis on science, math, and technology. I think we are also doing a disservice to those kids who may not want to go into those areas, but view themselves getting into trades or other more blue collar work when they graduate. According to my German friend these kids are put into programs to learn these trades so when they graduate high school they are ready to go into these fields and make a good living instead of our system which seems to give kids a good general education, but not one suited to going right out and getting into a field right after high school. These are the kids you see floating along, living at home and working at fast food or retail when they are 19 or 20. We also need to de-emphasize sports and social clubs as these take away kids time from studying. PS if I was president all TV broadcasting would end at 7 pm. No TV-smarter people and smarter kids and a happier and more prosperous society

[John Hunter]

Thanks for saying what has to be said. I have talked on similar themes on my blog for awhile now. The USA is definitely losing its relative position as the clear leader for science and engineering excellence.

The debate now whether we are willing to invest more today to slow the decline or whether we are willing to risk the economic future where our centers of science and engineering excellence are eclipsed quickly.

There is a long lag time that has allowed us to coast for the last 30 or so years. The reality is that most Americans suffer under the illusion we are in the same position we were in 1970's. We are not and it is obvious to me that the economic impacts are starting to have dramatic effects now and it will only increase.

It might be more pleasant to explain why the USA is fine the way it is but that is a mistake. For more on my thoughts see two categories of the Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog:

http://engineering.curiouscatblog.net/category/economics/

http://engineering.curiouscatblog.net/category/education/k-12/

and 2 posts

http://engineering.curiouscatblog.net/2006/07/01/the-future-is-engineering/

http://engineering.curiouscatblog.net/2006/08/21/diplomacy-and-science-research/

[Paul Vogelzang]

Great job!
We watched, as a family, the GMA interview this morning, and promptly ordered the DVD :)
Our 14 year old, a HS Freshman here in Northern Virginia, actually agrees 100%, and he believes he's not being pushed enough, but is just working up to the required level.
Sad.
Let us know how we can help...we produce the MommyCast podcast, and would be happy to share, interview, etc...(certainly not why I wrote you, but we're believers!)

[Jugz]

There is no question that Indian and Chinese schools do NOT have garbage like proms, 'home-coming queens', and the overt sexual atmosphere that pervades American schools. But the American society wants this culture to blossom since it makes business sense to sell a few things around prom time. Most Indian and Chinese schools concentrate on one thing alone, education - why this is rocket science is beyond me - while the US kids worry about their drugs, garb, trinkets, their nails or whatever trivia they can think of while singularly forgetting that education is what they come to the school for ! Hence, against this background/culture and moral values and lax educational standards in this glorified 'developed nation', does it shock anyone that every high school grad over there beats these pampered and overweight kids to pulp in every international educational competition ? No wonder those guys now have most engineering jobs too ! This is no coincidence. Computers and the web have only made this even more apparent but those kids were far better even in those old days. Why is this a shock ? Education here is a joke.

[Rod M]

It is remarkable to me to that many educators in America today are so insulated and defensive. It is no secret that our education system is hurting, but the NEA and groups like them consistently push out propaganda that suggests otherwise.

While I am no expert in education (my two Masters degrees not withstanding), it is not rocket science to any casual observer that we are in trouble... and the next 10-20 years will see dramatic change on the global front.

When I see the kind of work high school students do, and look at the papers 1st and 2nd year university students produce, I shake my head.

If this film does nothing but to awaken the creativity and drive that characterized this country in years gone by (ie. Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation"), then it will have served its purpose. That said, its the parents AND the educators that need to get their collective heads out of the sand and see what's coming.

So... all you high school principals (or should I just say the unions that "represent" you)... get your act together, stop being so unilaterally dismissive, and see what we can do to fix it!