Two Million Minutes an intriguing study in contrast

By Joe Dwyer     9/11/08 7:00pm

In the four years that students around the world spend in high school, just over two million minutes (60 minutes times 24 hours times 365 days times 4 years) will tick by. What the students do with that time and its impact on not just the rest of their lives, but even the economies of their respective countries is the focus of a new documentary titled Two Million Minutes.Directed by Chad Heeter and produced by Robert A. Compton, the 54-minute film takes a look into the lives of six high school seniors from the United States, China and India and manages to offer up some candid footage and interviews with not only the children but their parents as well. In addition to a camera that follows each of the students around, interviews with several prominent entrepreneurs, education specialists, politicians and university professors round out the discussions in the movie.

The film does present a smattering of statistics and percentages at the beginning in order to give an idea of where America's education system stands in relation to those of other nations, but it thankfully never relies too much on them. Instead, it makes it a point to examine the cultural trends in each nation that contribute to such drastic differences in education.

For example, Vivek Wadhwa, executive in residence and master of engineering management at Duke University, talks in his interview about how higher education in India is viewed as a "passport out of poverty" since a degree can lead to a stable job. Since most Americans grow up with some degree of "economic certainty," he claims they have none of the "hunger, desire or need" to seek higher education that kids in other nations do.

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Apoorva Uppala is 17 years old and attends school in Bangalore. Her typical day consists of waking up at 5:45 a.m. and attending tuition sessions in math and science for two hours, followed by breakfast, then the regular school session, then three more hours of study sessions afterwards. "Without a break," she adds. She says she wants to be an engineer because it's the least risky job in India.

Compare her to Neil Ahrendt, 18 years old, who is a National Merit Semifinalist, senior class president, school newspaper editor and former football captain from Carmel, Indiana. In one of his interview clips, he admits that once he gets to college, "there's a chance I'll have to start putting more effort into studying." (On the strength of his PSAT score alone, Purdue University offered Neil a full ride.)

Has the United States always taken education as lightly as Neil? Rewind to 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit. The United States, suddenly afraid that another country was better than it was at science and math, passed the National Defense Education Act in order to jump-start American schools and bring them up to date in those areas, as well as in foreign languages. That was then, but where is that attitude today, especially now that the Chinese have successfully launched a man into space?

The experts in the film are quick to point out that America has not become complacent in the years since Sputnik. Educators have been making changes every year to make the system better, but since results are not exactly immediate, it is hard to tell whether they have had any effect.

The film is not, however, just 54 minutes of America-hating propaganda. It offers a balanced look at the education systems of three different nations, and upon comparing them to ours, shows that we come up short in every category but self-confidence and hours of television watched per year.

On the bright side, Harvard University economist Richard Freeman notes that American students are more flexible than other countries' students because our society and culture allow them to make most decisions for themselves, instead of having their parents decide everything for them.

The most shocking part of this documentary was not how "bad" America's system seemed in comparison to others, but what each of the six featured students in the film went on to do. While Neil accepted his full ride to Purdue, none of the students from China or India - all of whom studied at least three times as much as their American counterparts in order to get into their nations' top schools and universities - made it into the schools of their choice. They all entered into comparable programs and schools, but the contrast between the work ethic necessary for success in these nations and the much lower effort required in the U.S. is thought-provoking.

Although this was a one-time showing at the Rice Cinema, Houston PBS will broadcast Two Million Minutes on Tuesday, Sept. 30 from 8-9 p.m. and on Sunday, Oct. 5 from 6-7 p.m.

Set your TiVo and leave your stereotypes at the door.

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