Will We Have a Debate about Global Competitiveness in Education?

Doubtful, but Bob Compton, Executive Producer of Two Million Minutes, would like to see it.

Jay Mathews originally dismissed 2MM’s argument sometime in February in his WaPo column. In “One Dad’s Campaign to Save America,” Mathews waxed condescending as he wrote in tendentious terms of the mythical “international threat” the film claims to have exposed. 2MM isn’t presented as a conspiracy theory or impending doom, but Mathews’ increasingly-stale columns need all the spice they can get – he gets a free pass.

“Bob Compton may be wrong about American students losing out to our hard-working Indian and Chinese competitors, but he is astonishingly sincere in his views.”

Golly gee, Jay. I can’t speak for Mr. Compton, but I’m sure that gentle dismissal to open your piece, sort of like an adult addressing a small child in an insincere, singsong way, rings as sour to him as it would to me. If you haven’t already, read the rest of Mathews’ initial piece.

Not long after, Mathews followed it up with “Bad Rap on the Schools” in The Wilson Quarterly. It’s an angrier piece – Mathews really isn’t going to put up with this globalization talk any longer – with a garbled message. First, he intimates that 2MM is an election-year rabble rouser [of which there is no evidence]; then he dismisses the claim that American schools have “fallen behind” international counterparts, a claim which curiously isn’t made in the film; then it’s back to voters, then a rush of statistics/bad data with little context, a brief discussion of even worse data, etc.

You get the idea. Mathews doesn’t, but you probably do. Here’s his start:

“Oh, look. There’s a new film that portrays American teenagers as distracted slackers who don’t stand a chance against the zealous young strivers in China and India. It must be an election year, when American politicians, egged on by corporate leaders, suddenly become indignant about the state of America’s public schools. If we don’t do something, they thunder, our children will wind up working as bellhops in resorts owned by those Asian ­go-­getters.”

Eek! I won’t even touch the tripe that suggests we’re xenophobes/racists who just couldn’t bear to be controlled economically by “those Asian go-getters.” [Personally, I like working with "go-getters" regardless of their race or nationality - take that, Jay!]

Alas, Mr. Compton isn’t deterred by Mathews’ rotten commentary. He posted the following comment on this site and on Fordham’s Flypaper:

Matt,

Despite Fordham’s confidence in Mr. Mathews global knowledge and personal experience, it is only fair to point out that Mr. Mathews has never visited India and therefore never set foot in an Indian K-12 school. Therefore, I do not know the source of his strong opinions.

And while he has been to China, his last visit to a Chinese school was in 1989 – nearly two decades ago. Useful, but perhaps mildly dated.

I am a true admirer of Mr. Mathews – I believe he is extraordinarily smart and his knowledge of American education unsurpassed among journalists, but his adamant opinions about Indian and Chinese education and their economies should be taken in their proper context – outdated, non-existent or plain wrong.

I would welcome an open, public debate with Mr. Mathews on Indian and Chinese curriculum and student performance in comparison with US standards and performance at any time and in any location. (except not in August – I’ll be in China and not in December – I’ll be in India).

I am ready to have him publicly humiliate me if his knowledge of education, curricula and testing standards in those two country’s proves superior to mine.

Bob Compton
Executive Producer
Two Million Minutes
http://www.2mminutes.com

This is a debate we need and I hope that Mr. Mathews accepts.

I replied with this:

Tagged as: 2mm, bob compton, china, globalization, india, international education, jay mathews, Two Million Minutes, us education, wapo, washington post