“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 last Friday. 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 tha
t American students spend enough time in school and studying? Do we spend too much time on other things - sports, TV, video games, or other things? 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 Saturday, January 16.
Student Sleeping image from Flickr
Posts
33 comments:
yes there is a crisis because if americans dont get smarter and keep being lazy then people from other countries will come and take their jobs that americans should have.
i think that tecnolagey is advancing faster than people are ready for and u.s. kids dont know how fast the world is changing and how small it seems, so they dont set them selfs up to achive so they can have jobs that china or india could take away from them like mr. veliz seid in like to cliks of a mouse on a computer you could have a job on the other side of the world and not have to pack up and move. that is how the u.s. is loseing its edge. becouse kids are turning lazy playing game whaching t.v. and not setting academic goals to reach. the average u.s. student studys 15-18 hours a week, the average chinese student studys 20 hours a week, and the average indian student studys 18-20 hours a week.
I think that we Americans are going down in our advancements and we should try harder at our work so we are able to compete with the other nations and continents. I think that we put enough time into school and a good amount of activity but I think that our studies have gone down in the past couple of years. We should get our grades up and do better in school so that we are back in the game.
look we are blooging 20 30 years ago this might not have been posable you use tecnolagey so often you dont even know it comuters, calculaters, phones, ect. most people use tecnolagey 99.9% of the day facebook twiter all of that is taking over the world tecnolageyis like a addictin to some people it is good but some time harmful
matt is right i mean if we keep letting this happen we will soon be taken under control like when we left england to form a new nation
i Agree with chelcee technology is advancing to fast actually faster then we would like you beleive and we as an nation are leting out gaurd down by letting china and india come to our country and letting them take our job with the click of an mouse
I think that american students dont spend enough time studying. Because we do spend to much time on sports and tv and video games and we do more of them activities than studying and doing homework than like diffrent countryies who study alot then playing games and sports.
using excuses for not doing our work has made us americans very lazy compared to India and china. like chelcee, i dont think us kids are ready for the tecnology to be advancing so fast like this.
you know how older people don't know how to use most new devices. that is because only a few years ago there wasn't even cell phones. That's just one example of how fast our technology has advanced.
This movie was a wake up call! I think kids in the U.S. arn't aware of what is going on there to buisy investing more time in vidio games and computers than sutdying and geting good grades. They need to score high on tests and get honors so they can get exepted into high ranking colleges.
Good start. There's seems to be some agreement that some kind of change is needed for the U.S. to begin moving it right direction. But what kinds of changes? More specifically, what can each of you do? The obvious answer is to work harder, but what does that mean?
As an individual, what are some tough choices and decisions that you can make?
have you ever herd the expreson "your just a drop in the bucket" thats true you are but with all our agreements we should be abel to come together and make at least a small diffrence like study harder a few small diffrences can change alot its kinna like cleaning a messy room at frist you dont know were to start then you find a place and mabey the fristday you clean for 5 minets the next 10 minets and so on its just like studyind dont push yourself to do to much i think thats 1 of the problems in the u.s. kids push themselfs to much and give up it happens to evryone amarians just do it more that other contries becouse we live so comfortabl and have evry thing we need a some we want
some contries you have to try and try again until you succeed but in the u.s. its kinnda like a handout compared to other contries.
i think it is a crisis because americans students dont study as hard as other countries do and we need to study better because other people will take our jobs and get them because they study really hard and if we don't study hard we won't be able to get good jobs that we should have
i agree with chelcee technology is advancing faster and kids dont really know how much the world is changing. i also so agree with chelce that people spend to much time watching t.v. and playing video games instead of setting acedimic goals
WOW!! that film really shocked me!!I think we are slacking and being kindof lazy BUT.... i also think americans don't want to and are not going to be cramped up in a room and study ALL day and not watch tv, practice sports, etc. i mean we can practice sports then study or study then watch tv BUT were NOT going to be cramped up to this room and study ALL day!!! so idk!!! but i STILL think we should step it up a little bit.!!
SO STEP IT UP PEOPLE!!! (AND i'm tlking to my self to so don't get offended!!!!!
IDK if i spend enough time in school but we are failing because usually SOME kids who go to school don't pay attention, don't care, want to go home, etc. SOME kids don't care about learning and think they're "cool" because they don't have any thing to do with school!! SOME kids don't really care what they do with they're life! AND SOME kids are ALL three so they're going to go NOWHERE!!!! so i think the SOME student's need to get they're LAZY, WORTHLESS butt up and do SOMETHING with they're life so others don't have to suffer or take blame for it!!!!
Honestly i think we've become lazy and not as serious as other nations and we could and probably should try harder but I dont want to give up the life style. I disagree that technology will become to much for following generations to handle because when you grow up around it its easy to adapt. I dont think some competition is a bad thing, in fact I think its great motivation. But relying on other countries to survive isn't something we want to do. and when it comes to school and studying i think its not about how long we stay in school and how hard were pushed but how we personally are willing to be better and try harder.
i agree with ashlee to a point you dont need to be in a cramped room you can be in a study group, or study with your friends there endless ways to study but also disagree with yari to a point if your parents didnt go to school or finish school then do you think the kids would know about all the new tecnolagy? its like your parents showed you how a t.v. works our how to work the microwave and some thimes you have observed the next generation will be the same and so on and so on
i think that the movie was pointless because the americans got into the collage but the other kids that they said were smarter didnt get into the collages they wanted
The video we recently watched during school "2 Million Minutes" was really encouraging on me. I think this video's meaning was to prove to us that we need to step it up and the normal school average isn't good enough. I don't think many children at this point is taking this concern very seriously because they think since their children they can slack off and not give it their best shot. Well most of these children are one hundred percent wrong. Mainly adults are trying to make us or convince us to take the right turn and watch our moves in life and give school our everything. Mainly adults are trying to tell us there honestly are young adults in China, India, and many places over the world trying to take our places in jobs because they spend more time studying and spending more time in school. I think as us American's should try our best and make life worth living and to persue our dreams through out life. Adults are not trying to say to drop all our fun and go straight for our dream with non-stop studying. Their mostly trying to say you can try your best even with fun. I completely agree with Savannah she's definitely right about us American students not studying as hard as other students around the world. I also think that it is disappointing how we spend most of our weeks. Us American's spend more time in front of the tv than sitting at home studying or doing some sort of homework. Would it really hurt us if we actually set the remote down every once in awhile to pick up a book? Every day Technology is getting more and more advanced and we just are not paying attention to the world all around us and actually imagining that countries around us can actual take our places. This is our time to step in and realize we got some work to do. I didn't know an hour movie could actually get you motivated on thinking of your future in such short time. Actually sitting down watching the movie 2 million minutes made me think and take the world to consider. I hope it made the same impact on you as it did on me.
I agree with pretty much everyone I think we all have about the same idea on this topic.
---Hanna(:
I think the movie was a wake up call to all Americans because we need to stop being lazy and start working hard.
Jacob G said 1/13/10
I agree with Ethan that Americans are lazy and i think we need to do a better job of school work becuase of the crisis
I also think we can aleast do 100% in our school work so we can get into a good college.
Ashley is right i mean if your not going to pay attention why bother coming to school. either way it still would be hopeless trying to get in to a decent college.one thing i don't get is why our parents say eat all your food some people in other places don't have any. why don't they have much money when they are soooooooooo smart!
tyler the other kids didnt get into there collage becouse they choses the hardest collage to get in to
not all contreys are smart elisibeth
I think the movie 2 Million Minutes was a good movie to watch to help inspire alot of us. Alot of people have been talking about it lately outside of Mr.Veliz's classroom. Some people say the students in China and India are SOOOOOO much smarter than us...Is that true? I asked myself but i really actually I think the students in the United States could be just as smart as the people in China and India. But the thing is, is that those students spend most of their time in their classrooms or at home studying. And us Americans do more than just studying and school. I also think we could be smarter than them if we actually set BIG LIFETIME goals and were more focused on our school work. Everyone and I know that right now isn't so great with the economy, and it's hard to find a job. So why should we just let the jobs that could be for us one day just go to someone across the world by a click of a mouse? Yes there is a crisis and it's not looking so good in MY FUTURE if people in other countries keep taking a job that could be mine one day!!!!!
Jacob G said 1/14/10
Broklyn is right that somebody can just take your job with a click of a mouse. So we just need to do a better job in school so we can have that job and have a better future.
broklyn it might not mess with your future or the future of others who work to there abilaties like you might be ok becouse your soooooooooo good in school
i think we should all start working harder so we can have good futures
We need to advance in learning. Soon foreign people will take our jobs. We need to before its to late.
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