Two Million Minutes: Too Much Fun, Too Much Stress #graded

I'm just going to start off by saying this: last night I dreamed about writing this post. And it was not a pleasant dream. I dreamed about being shunned via Blogger for not doing a good enough essay and for turning it in late because I was too busy having fun yesterday. Having fun. Yes, I was doing it. If you were Hu Xiaoyuang from China, you may be gasping in horror, and continue on to say that all Americans do is "Live the dream," and don't spend nearly enough time studying.

I am an American student, and my life is not a dream. 

In the documentary "2 Million Minutes" Robert Compton displays the argument that America is being to lackadaisical with its high school education system; that students aren't working hard enough, which results in a decline in global status. Compton uses the comparison of students (two of them) from the countries of the United States, India, and China to show just how differently the United States focuses on education. Yes, through the use of logos appeals-- showing statistics on the number of American students who take rigorous science classes, and displaying the fact that both China and India spend more time studying than Americans-- the argument really does make perfect sense. Unfortunately for Compton,  "2 Million Minutes" is obviously skewed. 

Hello logical fallacy. Within "2 Million Minutes" there is the logical fallacy of hasty generalization (educate yourself here). Americans, Neil and Brittany are NOT a good representation of the entire population of students in the United States. How many students live in a privileged environment, one privileged enough to have a sunglasses hutch in the entryway of one's house (like Brittany did)? How many students can not study for the PSAT and become a national merit scholar, like Neil did? In comparison to ALL of the classrooms around the country, how many teachers tell their students that a multiple choice problem on a test has 3 correct answers, like Brittany's teacher did? The list goes on, but even from these few statements above it is clear to see that the American students weren't good representations of the entire population, and I'm sure this hasty generalization was present on the Indian and Chinese side of this documentary too, although I'm not an expert on their culture, so I wouldn't know. Actually, I don't think it's at all possible to sum up a nation's diverse body of students with just two select students. By dramatizing the differences between the "typical" Americans and the "typical" Chinese and Indians Compton is not only playing the pathos of American views, making them feel grossly lazy and selfish, but also destroying his ethos, for viewers know of this dramatization and take in his argument with caution. 

The underlying question here is, what are we, as Americans, going to do to improve our number of math and science graduates, so that we can compete with the world once again? By the way this argument is displayed, we assume that the only way to reaching success is through a cultural shift; we need to become more like the Indians and Chinese. However, one of the speakers in the documentary, a graduate from Harvard, said something worth mentioning. He pointed out that it is not how MANY graduates in science in math we have but how many GOOD science and math graduates we, as a country have. Its not about shoveling in information and doing work 24/7 just to graduate and have a career, for those graduates are acquisitive, only aiming at getting the job done for money. In his essay "I Don't Wanna Be Average" Mike Rose talks about how one's actions in life change based on their attitudes. Taking the student mentioned above, this student would have the attitude that the only way to success is through graduating in science, and so he would spend all of his time doing the necessary work needed to gain this success; his whole life would revolve around finishing the necessary homework, and doing the right extracurricular activities. But what if us students took on the attitude of passion; finding that one subject to study that makes the student feel excited and leaves him hungry for more information, eager for development so that he can continue to expand his knowledge. If the United States had more students with lives revolving around the attitude of passion, not completion of school for a successful job, then we as a country would have more quality graduates, which would help us to compete. 

To all of those who think we are "Living the dream" here in America, I would just like to say that I am an American student and my life is not a dream. I spend my nights doing homework; I face competition with my peers; and sometimes I get test scores that don't seem to reflect the amount of effort I put into studying. But maybe I do seem like I am "Living the dream," for I am not running the race of monetary or competitive success, I'm not trying to please anyone other than myself; I have a passion, and someday, when I'm doing a job that I love to do, then I will feel complete satisfaction-- true success.