Two Million Minutes

An Examination of High School in the U.S., India and China

Regardless of nationality, as soon as a student completes the 8th grade, they have just two million minutes to prepare for college, and ultimately, a career.

For some, high school is little more than a necessary rite of passage -- the standard American backdrop for prom nights, tailgate parties, and teenage rebellion, but for other students around the world, these two million minutes are spent with tutors and textbooks as they sharpen their minds for the "new knowledge economy."

TWO MILLION MINUTES explores the four years of high school in the three largest countries on earth -- the U.S., India and China -- by following a girl and boy high school senior in each country. Every child has the same two million minutes of high school. How students and parents allocate that time is wildly different between the three cultures and has profound implications for each country's future.