2 Million Minutes

Ambition, an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, or wealth, an idea present throughout the world’s educational system, perhaps more present in some than in others. In the documentary “2 Million Minutes”, it informs the people of the world about the worlds educational system, but more specifically, 3 countries. The documentary describes the American, Chinese, and Indian students, as they all strive to achieve high academic standards. The U.S. motivation for educational success has lacked at best in the past years, the Americans are achieving an all time low in academic success in the past years. As Robert Compton, the brainchild of Memphis businessman states, “You just want to shake America and say, ‘Wake up. We are falling behind daily’ ”, the United States rank’s 24th in the world in math, and are losing their competitive edge. The average American students spends 50% more of their time watching television, then in the classroom and studying, proving the lack of motivation and ambition among American students. Asian 12th grade math proficiency percentage ranked higher than African Americans, Hispanics, and Whites combined. “For most people, it is eye-opening”, says Marc Lampkin, as nearly 40% of US High School students do not take any science class more challenging then general biology, along with 55% who do not take any math courses beyond 2 years of algebra and 1 year of geometry. The U.S. continues to decline in academic success, and are taking minimal steps to improve their statistics. The name of the U.S. country has always stood for a promising country, however its educational system is hurting its rich name.