“When I was growing up, my parents used to say to me: ‘Finish your dinner — people in China are starving.’ I, by contrast, find myself wanting to say to my daughters: ‘Finish your homework — people in China and India are starving for your job.’” -- from Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat
First, let me thank you all for your attention to the film this week. You probably know my answer to the question in the title of this post. I do think there is a crisis - a quiet crisis that is more dangerous than any crisis we face as a country. But this blogging session is not about what
I think. It is your opportunity to give your opinion about 2 Million Minutes, about the so-called crisis in American education, and your feelings about your experience with American education.The film 2 Million Minutes tells the story of how six students use their 2,000,000 minutes (4 yrs) of high school. It quickly becomes obvious that the two students from India and the two from China spend far more time in school and studying than the two students from the United States. While all six students went on to college, the Indian and Chinese students were disappointed that they did not get into their first choice of schools. What does this say about them? Are they weaker students than the film portrayed? Or did they just set their sights higher than the American students?
So, how does all of this relate to you?
Are you concerned or alarmed by what you saw? Do you think that American students like you should be doing something different? Should school officials and teachers being doing something different to help improve how American students are performing?
Is there really a crisis?
You may think that all this talk about a crisis in American education is just dead wrong. What do you think? Is there really a crisis? Do you think that you'll be prepared to compete for the really good jobs when you graduate from college?
Do you think American students spend enough time in school and studying? Do we spend too much time on other things - sports, TV, video games, etc.? Do you think that you should make changes in the amount of time that you study?
Regardless of how you feel about 2 Million Minutes, there is a lot to talk about and debate. I want this to be the most active blogging session so far. Read all of the comments that have been made, enter your own comment, then come back often throughout this week to continue the conversation. The only thing that I ask, is that you keep the conversation thoughtful and intelligent. Be sure to give reasons for the opinions you offer.
Before commenting, take a few minutes to watch the following video:
Helpful Links
USA Today article about 2 Million Minutes
Boston Globe - My lazy American students
This session will end at 12 am on Monday, April 2.
Student Sleeping image from Flickr
Posts
23 comments:
I think there is a crisis that we are not advancing as a country and that we work much less than people in china or india. it concerns me that we have not move much up and might move down. I think that in the future jobs are going to be harder to find so we will have to move farther than where we are. the
The video, I think, said one thing that was completely important. American students DO work hard. It's important to realize we can't base a whole nation of individuals on an average score. While you can say, "Gosh, we need to work harder!" Within that group of people are students going beyond the expectations and working very hard. However, people don't take in account one person, because with this kind of data and evidence you can't do that. I don't think it would hurt to have school one hour longer, or to go to school one month more. A lot of times people aren't willing to look at the whole picture. It is true that as a nation, we treat academics differently than Asian countries. But we're in two entirely different nations! We grew up with different principles and beliefs. Growing up, we're told we can be whatever we want to be. We can be actresses and football players and anything is possible! While this is all lovely, I think we need to be more realistic. Chances are, we're not going to be a movie star. Our good football playing isn't always going to get us into a good college. Academics is more reliable. Around the world, they focus more on academics than who is the best football player, and I think that's how it should be. School work comes before facebook and games. It's good to be well rounded, but being well rounded doesn't mean you can do bad in school. Growing up with parents who are teachers, I can understand that 90% of the time, it's not a teachers fault your child is failing. It all has to do with family, how much emphasis your family puts on education, and what order your priorities are in. There has been a lot in the paper recently about kids growing up within the last 20 years, how we are rewarded and congratulated on the smallest things, and so our self confidence has grown. Compared to other countries, this seems completely ridiculous. In the video, the boy from China says he doesn't like to upset himself, and so sets small goals. While I don't think this is the best outlook on life, it can probably help in terms of education that thinking you are perfect at whatever you do. So, no matter what steps we take, they may help a little, but the most important would be for people to realize what comes first, and what is most realistic for their children.
like sean said there is a crisis beacuse we as a country, we are not advancing academally beacuse ,like the video said, students dont balance between play time and school time. like the indian boy if all the students in america made studying there priority we would advance. also i think jobs are going to get harder in the future so if sstudents want to get a job they better study very hard
I also believe that there is a crisis because as a nation, we were more smarter and we studied alot more because we didn't have much electronics to make us more distracted from homework and we also wanted to exceed in being more smarter than Russia because of the cold war, but as soon as all these new items came and communism fell, everyone thought that we didn't have anything to worry about because we have all these cool items and businesses in America and that we were more advanced. But really, we are starting to care less for homework and be more occupied in partying, having fun, and being in sports. We can still party and be in activities though, but we need to arrange those with doing homework and studying first. I feel that in the future, America will soon decrease in education because we are depending more on technology to help us and for other nations and people from other nations to make America a working country again.
As Robin said, it's not a problem of students not working hard. We are, but we are focusing more on sports, jobs, friends, and extracurriculars than school. The one lady who was interviewed from the Asia Society in New York said that Asian students end up spending twice as much time in high school than American students. Ths means that Americans are getting half as much education as Asian students. We could attempt to change this, but if the government tried to implement longer school days or less summer break time, it would probably be a futile effort. Most people would see it as taking away a child's free time. They would not be able to see the big picture: China and India are speeding along on the highway of education, and if we do not act, we will be left in the dust. My parents have always pushed me to excel in school, to choose a stable major in college, and to, most of all, work hard and pay attention. They have a strong focus on education, and ths is what is needed everywhere in order for us to catch up with Asian countries. Some parents and teachers have come to expect average, and that's not good enough to compete in the global business world. Adults have to push children to apply themselves in academics, or they never will. The fact that the students from China and India, who were obviously very bright and hardworking, did not get their college of choice shows that it is a constant competition for entrance into college and jobs. On the other hand, the American students, Neil in particular, were accepted into great colleges with very little effort. We need to learn that 'competition' is the buzzword of the future-if you can't compete, you'll be left behind.
At first I was kind of upset with what I saw because I thought is was like insulting American students, but it made me wanna work harder in school. Honestly I think that some students here could be doing more studying than video games or facebook, but some students do exactly waht they should do. To me, life in China or India would be horrible because I don't like to sit there and study 24/7. I like to spend time with my friends constantly and practice volleyball and softball. But I balance in my schoolwork. There are lots of other American students who do the same thing. The ones that don't obviously don't care about their future as much. If they don't focus in school then they won't have a stable job when they get older, and that is a crisis. They will be in povertly. So mmy main opinion is that you need to balance out your work and fun, because I don't think a kids childhood or teen years should be only sitting inside a room at a desk studying for long hours, because not only is school learning important, but so is learning valuable lessons outside of school. But as far as what I think teachers should do,I dont nessisarily beileve that if you crack down hard on students and being mean to them isn't going to help them learn. It's just going to make students really regret having to be there and they won't pay attenion. I think teachers should be someone the students can trust and respect, but I think they should try to make learning fun! For example, I remember almost everything Mr. Rousseau taught me last year cause he made class fun and quite intertaining. And even if the teacher isn't those things I think that the students should think about what the teachers are teaching them and realize that they're being taught these things for a reason.
At first I was dissapointed because i felt like we were just slipping behind and we were stupid or something. I was happy when they gave the Americans some credit by saying that we did work hard. The kids in Asia seem to work a lot more than us, but thats just in school. We work just as hard, but we focus it on things like sports and music a lot more. I think that the ideal experience for the kids in school would be somewhere in the middle. The Americans need to work harder in school, but the Asian kids should get some more free time. While the kids over in Asia were studying, we were hanging out with our friends. And both of these are equally important, and everyone should have time to do both. Overall, I think there is a crisis. America is falling behind, and we need to work harder to catch up. But we cant lose sight of our other values, like being social and well rounded.
Oh no! Something must have happened! What I MEANT to post before that last comment was that, reading the comments from all classes, it's quite ironic that a good majority of the people saying American students need to raise the bar spelled about every other word in the sentence wrong, complete with grammatical errors. Hmm.....
Oh goodness this blogging is being troublesome. For some reason not all of what I am posting is saving....so that last comment doesn't mean what I meant to post before Donovan's comment, it somehow deleted a previous thing I posted....
I was concerned when the video, made America students look not smart compared to China and India, because American students don't study as much. But as you can see the students fom China and India did not get into their first choice even how much time they spend studying. In my opinion, nobody should just come home and start studying, because your brain always needs a break and playing sports helps you get active instead of being cooped up in a room studying, so I'm trying to say that it is always best to do a sport, because it gets you focused to be able to come home and start studying and it refreshes your memory, because if you just come home and start studying right afer school then your all stressed out from school and you can't even focus enough to study, but you just read over it and think your studying but your really not memorizing it, because you can't think. You have to be focused to be able to learn anything or memorize anything. School officials should give students less homework so they can have more time to study and play a sport or work. I do think that i will be prepared to compete for the really good jobs when i gradute from college, because i am studying really hard and because i am really good in science and math and that is what i am going to have to use in my career of being an Orthopedic Doctor. I think that American students should spend just a little more time in school so we can have time to learn more and make sure we really understand what were learning. I also think that American students should study a little more so they can pass the test, but if you compare the students that play sports actually make better grades than the students that don't play sports, because students that play sports understand how to be focused, because you have to be focused to play a sport and the students that don't play sports don't really understand everything they learn, because they never had to be focused or concerned about anything. And school is all about being focused, because if your not focused on what your learning then you won't learn. Also its good for students to play a sport, because if your career doesn't work out then you have back up in a sport, studying is really important, because you got to do good on the test to pass the class.
One more thing I would like to clarify. It's not "bad" that people are writing like they text. The important thing is, what may actually be a crisis, is if they can't write an essay or a paper with real words. And it isn't just the United States, but people all over the world. It's important to know when you can write like you text your friends, and when you can write like you're doing something for class. I just think maybe in the future, and again, all over the world, teachers might have to explain the dividing line. I understand people are just joking around, but if the day comes when they are ever serious....that's scary!!
I think there is somewhat of a crisis. Like Robin said, Americans do work hard but not necessarily in school. The work for their jobs, there family, and for sports. Americans have a lot more to do and to work for. Students in China and India work for school only most of the time.
Great start.
All of you have expressed concern over the position of the United States in comparison with India and China, and I believe that is an important first step. You need to recognize that a problem exists before you can begin to remedy it.
Now, let's start thinking about that next step. Who is it that is responsible for this situation? What should be done to begin to turn things around? What can you do? What can I and your other teachers do? What can school administrators do?
Finally, what role should parents play in helping improve education in America?
As I said before, the most important thing we can do is to realize that there will be competition for jobs and college. If we accept mediocre as good, we will just be left behind. Second, we need to learn to be a part of this global competition by pushing ourselves to excel. If there is not a desire to learn, then you cannot learn. Also, we need to make sure that we are working to our full potential. Don't let your friends discourage you from taking AP classes because they seem "harder". If you want to be competitive, and you have potential, don't waste it.
I have to agree with Kathryn. A lot of times, people have the talent, the brains, and the ability to excel academically. However, if you don't have the drive and the commitment, you waste it. I don't believe that anyone is born "smart". I mean, maybe a few of the world's geniuses, but you have to work to get there. I notice many times teachers think they are teaching you because they can answer your question from the definition in the text book, but they don't understand a concept themselves. That's a serious problem. Teachers can tell you what to learn, and they are responsible for teaching students accurately. Accuracy isn't sitting at a desk giving kids a worksheet. Maybe every now and then. Accuracy, over all, is getting up, and to the best of your ability, trying to make the material understandable. I don't think parents should constantly ask you if you have done your homework. I don't think they should check over your shoulder, fix your answers, and pack your backpack. That's Kindergarten stuff! Students are responsible for knowing what they have to do, studying, and reviewing it. The worst part of it is, is that people will say American students need to work harder, study more, etc, etc. But in the end, for many people, it doesn't matter, because they're never going to live up to their word. If everyone functioned and tried to their best ability, I don't think there would be a problem. We have to realize though, that that's not going to happen. In China and India, the parents are completely dedicated and focused on their child learning. Here, this is not the case. Yes, there are many parents that push their children, don't let them settle for anything less than what they can do. A lot of parents. It's far from everybody, though, and that makes all the difference.
Hey guyss!! I agree with Robin, American students definitley work hard. But I can say that many students in other countries have a lot more academic focus because they are forced to. If they had the life of a typical American teenager, they would not have or do as much work as they do. But you know how every country of the world has a different culture? Well it's kinda like the amount of work and time spent on education is different in differnet parts of the world. As the video pointed out, in China and India the students there pretty much know what their job and future is gonna be like since the moment they are born because they either follow in the footsteps of their parents, or their parents decide for them. In some cases this is really ridiculous becuase in the video, the Indian boy was clearly interested in music and wanted to make it big. He was a good singer too. But of course, he said his dad wanted him to have the same job so he pretty much had no choice. That made me feel sad. So even if America's students may not spend as much time and money on education, at least they are encouraged to do what they want to do, and not to the fufillment of someone else's interests.
Also, I don't think an excessive amount of homework and projects would make anyone better or smarter. Everyone has a different amount of homework, because we don't have all the same classes. The amount of homework doesn't matter as much as the content, I think. So you could have 10 challenging math problems that reflected what you did in class, or you could have 40, nearly all the same as the first 10. The amount of homework wouldn't change nearly as much as the amount of time to learn new concepts, which is why I think an hour more of school could be beneficial.
Just caught a typo in my first post! Grrrrrr ;( *this
To add to my earlier comment, many parents live vicariously through their children. They may not have had a job they like or didn't do enough college, so they force their kids to live out their dreams instead of going their own way. Also, I agree with Robin: it's the kids' responsibility to study and learn, not their parents'. Alternatively, parents' mistakes in not studying enough can push people to try to be a better student.
Everybody is responsible for their own mistakes. In my opinion, all the students in American are responsible for their own mistakes by making the choice to not study and not do their homework. Every student has the time to study and do their homework. For example, if you are committed to a sport, then you just have to manage your time by doing homework and studying when you get home instead of going on Facebook/Twitter or playing videogames etc. To get students to start doing their homework and studying, teachers/parents need to enforce students that their whole future/career is based on what they do today. To get other students to do better in school, I can tell them how important school is in life, because what you do in school is going to determine your future/career when you get older. In my opinion, teachers should actually make sure that students are actually learning the topic and understanding the topic instead of just knowing the topic at that one time and then forgetting it. Parents should make sure that their kids finish their homework before going to bed at night and parents should make sure their kids are aware that if they are going to commit to a sport that they still have to manage their time for studying and homework.
I am not concerned about this "crisis", and I think some people are sort of over reacting about it. In America we don't have to be in school 9 hours a day or else disgrace your family. Like the lady in the video said we might not work as much as the other countries in school but we do a lot of other activities. If you want us to change our lives and be like China and India you shouldn't have discovered America and the Colonies. Practically erase our history and never have found this great new world with "golden roads" and were anyone could get rich. But, Americans have gotten lazy with the government being able to pay you if you say you are mentally crazy and you'll be set for life. If the teachers had to change one thing I would want them to keep kids out of trouble more.
Well to turn things around I think American students should begin to understand that their education is very important. and that everythng they learn now will of some sorts be helpful in the future. The reason that India and China are so far ahead in education is because they know that to succeed in life they need to grow up and learn in order to succeed. That is what American students are lacking. Some of us don't care at all about school or about our future, and that's gonna eventually bring America down.
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