Two Millon Minutes

Today most of the HS faculty watched a documentary with the above title. It was a snapshot of the lives of 6 high school students: 2 in the U.S.; two in India; and two in China. Not surprisingly, students in China and India study a lot more than American students. They go to school more than American students. And generally their academic coursework is significantly more demanding. The students profiled in the US had a lot more options. One worked, was involved in student government, was a former football player and a national merit semi-finalist. In short American students had more fun (some would say balanced) and had more options than their international counterparts.

The issues raised in the film can hardly be addressed by Faith. American schools have been in crisis for as long, or longer, than my 30 years in education. I was educated in the post-Sputnik era, a time now fondly remembered by educators for the spate of reforms that were generated. We are now 25 years past A Nation At Risk and there have been few changes I would call systemic. Students today are pretty much educated the way I was: they just have access to a lot more gadgets. We know vast amounts more about how students learn, but little of that makes it way into school classrooms.

It may take a crisis, the kind that generates social upheaval, economic calamity or political disruption, to alert more of our leaders that we continue to prepare students for a world that no longer exists. That would be painful for us all, but it may be the medicine needed to spark genuine change. I hope I am around to see it and equally hopeful the symptoms don't kill the patient before the medicine arrives.

In our little corner of the world we'll continue to look at ways we can improve, one day at a time.