The Global Search for Education: India Time
Jun21

The Global Search for Education: India Time

 Bob Compton’s film, Two Million Minutes, explored how Indian students spend their time  The goal is education. We have 64 million students in it. India has about 320 million (ages 5 to 14). Bob Compton’s film, Two Million Minutes, observed that many students in India and China spend more time acquiring academic knowledge. What works in the Indian culture is going to be different from what works in our American...

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The Global Search for Education: Australia on the Move
Jun14

The Global Search for Education: Australia on the Move

 Young Australians present to their classmates In Vicki Abeles’ movie, Race to Nowhere, we met U. S. kids who were so overscheduled they had no time to be kids. The film suggested we were preoccupied with testing and performance, undermining what our kids should be doing in the classroom, let alone in their down time. So what is happening down under? I’ve been to Australia six times for business and personal reasons (my...

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The Global Search for Education: How to Develop World Leaders
Jun07

The Global Search for Education: How to Develop World Leaders

 Dwight teacher Paul Sanders and student learn Mandarin in Beijing “I don’t speak a foreign language. It’s embarrassing,” said President Obama recently. It is embarrassing, Mr. President, but it does not surprise me. You did not grow up like I did. Five different overseas schools and numerous cultures before I was 12, and then an international boarding school. My parents (with six children) were following a pay...

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The Global Search for Education: More Focus on Finland
Jun01

The Global Search for Education: More Focus on Finland

 Finnish teachers talk with Harvard professor Tony Wagner in The Finland Phenomenon “The Finns had a crisis,” life-long educator, best-selling author, and Harvard professor Tony Wagner explains as we discuss his new film, The Finland Phenomenon, made with acclaimed documentary filmmaker, Bob Compton. “Their economy was failing. Their education system was poor. They knew that to grow their economy, they had to...

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The Global Search for Education: The New Chinese Education
May23

The Global Search for Education: The New Chinese Education

“The new China is strongly making for good,” proclaimed my great great Uncle George E. Morrison (NY Times feature article, 1912) who advised the Chinese leadership during the formation of the first Republic. Dr. Morrison’s speeches about the vision of his Chinese friends at the turn of the 20th century remind me of Henry Kissinger’s remarks about China’s determination to continue its remarkable economic...

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The Global Search for Education: Can You Pass the Global Standardized Test?
May17

The Global Search for Education: Can You Pass the Global Standardized Test?

In approximately six weeks’ time, policy makers, administrators, researchers and educators will meet at the OECD PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) conference in Tokyo to study the educational strategies of countries which excel in the global standardized test. Many of these strategies will be previewed over the next few weeks in The Global Search for Education. The performance of U.S. students in the 2009 PISA...

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