Documentary Questions Quality Of Indiana, American Education

INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indianapolis filmmaker said he hopes to highlight issues of education around the globe with a new documentary featuring two former Carmel High School students.

The film is called "2 Million Minutes," referring to the four years most students spend attending high school.

Indianapolis businessman Bob Compton, the man behind the documentary, told 6News' Tanya Spencer the idea came to him during a trip to India.

"I was so impressed with how well-educated and how well-rounded they were that I decided to start exploring their school systems," Compton said. "They were two to three years ahead of my daughters, who are straight-A students in an expensive, private school."

The film compares the high school experiences of former Carmel High School students Brittany Brechbuhl and Neil Ahrendt with those of two teens in India and two teens in China.

"In India, you take four years of physics, four years of chemistry, four years of biology, four years of math, four years of computer science by the 10th grade," Compton said.

Brechbuhl and Ahrendt said the film was an eye-opening experience.

"India and China are globalizing, and they're definitely up and coming," Brechbuhl said. "Yeah, I would say I'm a little worried."

"I think it shows that if we continue down the path of complacency and just feeling like no matter what we do we're always going to be the best, because we've always been the best, I think if we get stuck in that mindset, down the road we're going to face some problems," Ahrendt said.

Compton has also set up a Web site to accompany the film, with statistics and exercises for students.