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Albany, NY – EDUCATIONAL DOCUMENTARY: 2 MILLION MINUTES
Pt. 2 of 2, URGENCY NEEDED FOR TURNAROUND -
Educators this year are marking the 25th anniversary of A Nation at Risk. The report is considered a landmark event in modern American educational history. Among other things, it contributed to the ever growing (and often still present) sense that American schools are failing miserably. And it touched off a wave of local, state, and federal reform. 25 years later, many are saying U.S. education is A Nation Still at Risk.
So a new group of leaders are taking up the call to action. Recently, Bill Gates testified before Congress and told members they need to help America remain globally competitive by increasing funding for science and math, and basic science research. He asked Congress to fully fund education programs for
high school math and science programs, as well as higher education training.
Gates summed up his testimony by saying, I believe this country stands at a crossroads economic progress depends more than ever on innovation if we
do not implement (new) policies the center of progress will shift to other nations that are more committed to the pursuit of technical excellence.
If you missed last week's show, we started telling you the story about the new documentary on education called, 2 Million Minutes. That's about how long it takes teenagers to complete their high school education. Students from China, India, and the U.S. are compared in the hour long DVD. This period of time was chosen to show students in class, at home studying, socializing - - to reveal the differences in college preparation, at this time that so impacts their economic
prospects for the rest of their lives.
This week, TBOOK delves into the urgency of the educational crisis, and also finds out how the presidential candidates reacted when they screened the documentary. We talk with the Executive Producer of 2 Million Minutes , Bob Compton. And we also speak with two students from Bangalore, India who are featured in the documentary. They are Apoorva Uppala and Rohit Sridharan.
Glenn Busby reports. (8:13)
** (Program Directors and Listeners please note. For more information about
the above educational documentary, here is the link given at the end of the
story: www.2mminutes.com.) **
THE STATUS OF HIGHER EDUCATION
A FINAL CONVERSATION WITH OUTGOING AND LONGTIME TBOOK SHOW CO-HOST, DR. KAREN HITCHCOCK -
Certainly a sad time for listeners and for us here at the TBOOK desk, as we
bid a fond farewell to our longtime Co-host partner, Dr. Karen Hitchcock. Karen has been with us for many years, through her tenure as Principal and Vice Chancellor of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada and her Presidency of the University at Albany, State University of New York. Karen's wonderful voice was first heard more than eight years and 422 shows ago when she assumed the reigns. Glenn asks Karen about some of higher education's most pressing issues, like: increased costs of running a university; how rising tuition is impacting access and affordability for a diverse student body; failed attempts to renew the Higher Education Act; and the potential for the
government to impose more oversight onto colleges and universities.
Dr. Karen Hitchcock and Glenn Busby report. (9:53)