The Two Million Minutes Blog

Keynote Speaker at England's Conference "21st Schooling: The Globalised Challenge"

I have spent the past 3 days in Birmingham UK at a gathering of over 1,500 educators from around the world (mostly British) to discuss what primary and secondary education should evolve to for Western nations to "stay in the economic game " globally as China and India, among other nations, are rising.

My film - 2MM: A Global Examination - was shown twice and The 21st Century Solution was screened as well - all to respectably large crowds.

I delivered three speeches:

    1- Education, Innovation and Economic Policy: What nations must do well in the 21st century

            Download UK - Education, Innovation and Economic Policy

    2- The 21st Century Curriculum: Whole-Brain Education

            Download UK - 21st Century Curriculum

    3- China, India and Western Hubris: Education and Economic Success (my keynote address)

The conference has been an energizing experience - unlike US conferences of similar nature - there has been very little pontificating. Most attendees simply want to to help their children succeed in the 21st century. It has been a breath of fresh air to an American guest.

Birmingham has an enormous ferris wheel in the center of town:

In Bangalore...dog tired.

I left West Point on November 13th at 1:15pm and finally landed Bangalore, India, Nov 15th at 3am - dog tired but very glad to be here.

This is my fourth trip to India and the sights and sounds are familiar and comforting to me now. The Oberoi Hotel feels like home and my senses are no longer assaulted, but more soothed by teeming, tumultuous India that I love.

Even the street sounds are less noise than a calming cacophony...ok, maybe not that calming...

Download Sounds of Bangalore

Speech at West Point

I had the privilege of being the final speaker on education at West Point on Friday. Being surrounded by so many highly decorated career soldiers was more than a bit intimidating, but the Generals made me feel welcome (especially when they had me drop and give them 20 push-ups - I was great on the "drop"... it was the "up" that was tough).

West Point, surprisingly, is deeply involved in education - from educating the children of soldiers around the world, to a magnificent public high school program called JR ROTC to build leadership, values and earned self-confidence in high school students.

The Conferences attendees was a Who's Who of important people in education and I felt deeply honored in their presence and proud to be asked to address them.

Meeting Army Chief of Staff General George Casey, Jr. was a particular honor.

Whitney Tilson Delivers Compelling Lecture on Achievement Gap

On 4-4-09, after a few brief comments by DC School Chancellor Michelle Rhee, TFA Co-founder Whitney Tilson delivered a calm, cogent, compelling, data-packed talk explaining why the Achievement Gap exists. It was brilliant!

                      

Here are a few of his most damning slides:

STAGNANT EDUCATION FOR OVER 30 YEARS

 

PISA RESULTS:
 

LONGER KIDS ARE IN SCHOOL THE WORSE THEY GET INTELLECTUALLY

 

WHILE U.S. EDUCATION STAGNATES

AND THE MOST DAMNING FACTS OF ALL:

 

THE KIDS WHO STRUGGLE ARE ASSIGNED TO THE WORST TEACHERS

2 Million Minutes Recognized in U.S. Congressional Record

Courtesy of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords,the film Two Million Minutes is now immortalized in the US Congressional Record as show below:

Honorable Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona
Congressional Recognition for BASIS Charter Schools
Entered into the Congressional Record on September 30, 2009

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the nationally acclaimed BASIS Charter Schools which provide outstanding educational services in Tucson, Arizona.

American students often lag behind their counterparts in other countries and we know that action must be taken to reverse this trend.  BASIS Charter Schools give us a national model that demonstrates how we can effectively address this serious decline in educational performance.

Ten year ago, Michael and Olga Block embarked on their mission to create a “New American” school.  They established the BASIS Charter Schools.  The BASIS philosophy understands that math and science are essentially the languages of the 21st century.

These forward-thinking founders say that great teachers are responsible for the schools’ successes.  At BASIS, the teachers hold themselves and their students to high standards and levels of accountability.  Students engage in a demanding course of study that gives them the skills needed to compete in the new global economy.

BASIS has received many well deserved awards.  The high school has been selected in each of the last four years by Newsweek magazine as one of the top 10 high schools in the United States.  During the 2008-2009 academic year, BASIS students received perfect marks on the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) exam.  In 2009, BASIS was the only high school in Arizona with 100 percent of its students passing the AIMS exam in every subject tested.

Documentary filmmaker, Robert A. Compton, has produced a film about BASIS schools entitled 2 Million Minutes:  The 21st Century Solution.  The title comes from the time a student spends in school from eighth grade until high school graduation.  The filmmaker lauds BASIS schools saying that they “demonstrate that American students are capable of competing academically with the best in the world.”  The film will premiere in Tucson on October 1, 2009.

I am proud to acknowledge the great achievements of BASIS Charter Schools.  The founders, the teachers, the students and their parents are leading the way for the critical improvements we must bring about in our public education system.

Gabrielle Giffords
Member of Congress

Evidence Mounts - Charters Improve Traditional Schools, too

The salient points from todays WSJ Editorial (11-4-09) - "No Child Left Behind"

"Opponents of school choice are running out of excuses as evidence continues to roll in about the positive impact of charter schools."

"Marcus Winters, who follows education for the Manhattan Institute, has released a paper showing that even students who don't attend a charter school benefit academically when their public school is exposed to charter competition.""

...without the burden of work rules and other constraints imposed by unions and the bureaucracy, [charters] are hugely popular with parents, and more than 1.4 million kids now attend 4,578 charters in 41 states. [NOTE: the US has 54 million K-12 students]

"The result has been, on balance, a superior education for the charter-bound kids and pressure on local public schools to improve or lose students. Public schools that must compete with charters are no longer insulated from the consequences for failing to educate their charges."

"Imagine that. Competition works."

READ FULL EDITORIAL

It's Time To Break the Teachers' College Cartel says Harvard Lecturer

"Take heed of this message from Katherine Merseth, a senior lecturer and director of the teacher education program at Harvard University:

"The dirty little secret about schools of education is that they have been the cash cows of universities for many, many years, and it's time to say, 'Show us what you can do, or get out of the business.'"

"It's high time that we broke up the cartel," she said. "We need to hold graduate schools of education more accountable." Merseth says that of the 1,300 graduate teacher training programs in the country, about 100 or so are adequately preparing teachers and "the others could be shut down tomorrow."

READ ARTICLE

Welcome to the "New Economy" - where are the jobs?

Constraining America’s Brightest

Op-Ed Columnist

By BOB HERBERT

Published: October 30, 2009

...

"So the gloomy outlook that this economy is offering so many of America’s brightest young people is not just disconcerting, it’s a cultural shift, a harbinger.

As jobs become increasingly scarce, more and more college graduates are working for free, at internships, which is great for employers but something of a handicap for a young man or woman who has to pay for food or a place to live.

"Welcome to the new world of employment in America as we approach the second decade of the 21st century."

READ ARTICLE

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The one common theme in Herbert's examples? Everyone is trying to TAKE a job, rather than MAKE a job.

One of our biggest educational challenges will be to teach our children to be creators of new products and to become entrepreneurs, not employees.

The Chinese have figured this out and begun teaching entrepreneurial concepts, even on TV: