Richard Spore Reacts to Documentary Film Contrasting Academic Lives of Students in India, China and the United States
Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Richard Spore recently contributed an article to The Commercial Appeal, commenting on the documentary film "Two Million Minutes: A Global Examination" produced by Bob Compton, a Memphis resident and venture capitalist. The film compares the lives of six top students in India, China and the United States and emphasizes that the two eastern countries' educational systems are outperforming that of the United States. Spore calls attention to the non-academic advantages gained by the students in the United States, whose extracurricular activities and part-time jobs provide them skills not possessed by the Indian and Chinese students focused strictly on studying, in and out of school. His piece also discusses a potentially more pressing problem--the bottom 50 to 70 percent of high school students graduating in the United States and how they will fair in a world marketplace.
The documentary film "Two Million Minutes: A Global Examination" recently premiered in Memphis.
Produced by venture capitalist and Memphian Bob Compton, the film follows six successful high school students from three countries -- India, China and the United States. The film contrasts the lives of these young men and women from academic, cultural and social perspectives and compares how each spends the time available to them during their high school years -- the "2 million minutes" of the film's title.
The film's premise is that the educational systems of India and China are outperforming the U.S. educational system, eroding the United States' competitive superiority in the ever-flatter world economy.
The film makes this point anecdotally, by following the Indian and Chinese students through their grueling weekly academic programs. We see them beavering away at their calculus workbooks after a long day of regular classes, and then attending extra classes and tutoring sessions on the weekend. All of this is in a frenzied pursuit of prized slots at elite technical universities, which will lead in turn to coveted engineering jobs, which represent the economic holy grail in these rapidly developing countries.
In contrast, the American students seem to border on the feckless, as they manage to work a little study time in between video games, after-school jobs, sports and socializing.
Up to a point, it's difficult to argue with the film's implications. India and China are struggling to claw their way to developed nation status in a generation. That lends a certain grim determination to their approach to education that's missing in America, which has, more or less, already "arrived" economically.
So, yes, their students are probably working harder than ours are at academic subjects because, as a society, they're playing economic catch-up. And, yes, as a society we will likely have to improve our educational system if we are going to maintain a competitive advantage over these rapidly advancing countries over time.
However, I don't believe the film conclusively makes the case that the near-fanatical focus in India and China on academics to the virtual exclusion of other activities necessarily produces a superior "product": i.e., a better producer and citizen over the long run.
The Chinese and Indian students in the film seem to lead one-dimensional lives, without experiencing the myriad roles and challenges that help round out and socialize the American students.
For example, the American boy profiled, although very bright, was probably the least academically focused of the entire group. However, he participated as a leader in numerous extracurricular activities while holding down an after-school job.
I've made it a point to ask others who have seen the film the following question: "Of the students featured, who would you hire to head up a project?" Virtually everyone chooses the American boy, largely because of his nonacademic performance and experiences. Virtually everyone places the two Chinese students at or near the bottom of their list because their experience outside Academe seems so limited.
Further, in a world marketplace where the only constant is change, arguably the most marketable skill around is the ability to learn and adapt over time. Although the Chinese and Indian students might be better prepared to obtain high-paying engineering jobs right out of college, the American students, with a greater variety of experiences, skills and relationships, might well be in a better position to adapt to changes in the marketplace over a lifetime.
Finally, the film's focus on what our elite students are doing vis-à-vis India's and China's elite students may be misdirected. The major economic challenge facing us may not be whether our best students are learning as much math and science as their Indian and Chinese counterparts, but rather whether the bottom 50 percent to 70 percent of our public high school students will graduate with a basic mastery of reading, writing and math, and without having been the victims or perpetrators of a felony.
This calls into question the film's premise that the American educational system is fundamentally broken, because the film glosses over the primacy of family -- as opposed to teachers and educational systems -- in training and educating kids. All of the kids in the film had parents whose commitment to their children's success ranged from "extremely strong" to "scarily fanatical." With that level of parental commitment, almost all educational systems are going to perform acceptably, if not remarkably well.
However, without the commitment of parents and families to their kids' success, the brightest and most hard-working of school administrators and teachers will have an uphill struggle. Perhaps the real story (particularly in a place like Memphis) is not how we make sure our best and brightest are competing against India's and China's best and brightest, but rather how we can combat the social pathologies that undermine the family and try to inculcate basic parenting skills that will help provide our next generation with a decent platform for basic academic achievement.
Reprinted with premission by The Commercial Appeal.
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