Two Million Minutes
The Post-Dispatch’s education blog pointed out today that tomorrow night, Principia College will be screening Two Million Minutes, a documentary by one of its graduates. The film is the first of several that will compare how education is addressed in China, India, and the United States.
I went to the film’s website and found that they have a set of seven short exams available to see how you would fare on a typical high school evaluation in India. While a few of the questions could reasonably elude American test takers (particularly where they focus on Southeast Asia or a distinctly non-American turn of English phrasing), I found that most of the questions, while quite difficult, fell in the range of topics covered in my high school and college education. I encourage anyone interested to give the exams a try and (if you’re not embarrassed), report your results in the comments below. In the meantime, I’ll try to attend the film screening tomorrow night and offer an assessment next week.
For the record, my own scores on the sample exams were: Math – Poor; Biology – Excellent; English Grammar – Excellent; History – Good; Chemistry – Average; and Geography – Average. I didn’t even bother taking the Physics exam, because I was never required to take a Physics class in high school or college. I have to say, I feel pretty humbled that I might be shown up by a group of teens in rural India.
Comment by Dave Roland — October 16, 2008 @ 12:42 p.m.
I’ve taken two: Geography – Poor and English Grammar – Excellent.
Comment by Sarah Brodsky — October 16, 2008 @ 2:19 p.m.
So far I’ve taken three: Physics – poor (as I expected), geography – average, history – good. I got 10 out of 15 in history. While admitting to getting two wrong, I dispute the question in the other three and maintain I got 13 correct.
Comment by David Stokes — October 16, 2008 @ 4:13 p.m.
Biology – Average, History – Poor, Math – Poor and I am not even going to attempt physics and chemistry.
Comment by Sarah Brodsky — October 16, 2008 @ 6:39 p.m.