2 Million Minutes

2 Million Minutes was quite an interesting film that compared the lives of high school students in China, India and the United States.

In the United States the high school students tried to find a balance between socializing and school and in India and China school was the top priority - I remember that one of the students in China said, "It's academics and nothing else." In America it seems school isn't always on the top of the list for students. In the film it seemed that in the United States high schools also focused on sports and that took some time away from academics. In China the extra curricular activities were taking ballet lessons for the female and playing violin or learning more about mathematics.  In India the students focused on school more so than Americans; however, they also tried to have somewhat of an active life as well - playing soccer, engaging in family activities or doing normal teenage things - listening to music, playing computer games, etc.   

I also noticed in the film that family time seemed more important in India and China than in the United States. The hectic lives of the high school students made it difficult for them to have meals with their family on an everyday basis; however, they tried to eat together a few times a week; where as in India and China they ate together every day and even helped in preparing meals and also what was eaten was different - in America one family had pizza (which was obviously delivered) and I think the other had lasagna - which is pretty easy to make and doesn't take much time. 

Each of the countries have different thoughts on education. I think that education is a number one priority for all of the students that were featured in the film; however, how much time was spent studying and focusing on academics was a different story. I feel that China spent the most of their time on academics and had little time for anything else; India focused on school quite a bit as well; however, they also allowed themselves to have a social life and Americans came in third and although school was important for them, they also spent the most out of the three countries socializing and partaking in other activities other than academics and I think that has mostly to do with culture - Americans are a fast paced culture and we want to get things done quickly so we can get to things we enjoy the most. If we took time on what was important; we may also find time to appreciate our free time more.