• Delayed by war, Class of 1943 finally holds senior prom

    NBC News

    Grace Duffy dances with her stand-in date Dave Lenahan at the Hillhouse High School class of 1943 reunion and prom.


     

    Rehema Ellis and Andrew Rafferty, NBC News writes

    It took seven decades, but the Hillhouse High School Class of 1943 finally had its senior prom.

    Prom for the members of the Greatest Generation was cancelled 70 years ago when the young men in the Connecticut school — and across the country — were called on to go defend the United States during World War II. But as of last Sunday, the high school rite of passage was no longer something these former high schoolers had to live without.

    But when it's a senior prom for senior citizens, the rules are different. First of all, the event started at noon, everyone could drink alcohol, and the dress code was, well, comfortable.

    NBC News

    Honey Pegnataro, right, shares a toast with some of her classmates at the Hillhouse High School class of 1943 reunion and prom.

    Many were dropped off not by their parents, but by their children.

    And with attendees now in their late 80s, dancing was left to only the most adventurous souls.

    Members of the Class of '43 say they did not feel cheated when school administrators told them to stop planning their prom so many years ago. Rather, they felt it was they were fulfilling their responsibility as Americans.

    NBC News

    Marilyn Unger pins on her corsage at the Hillhouse High School class of 1943 reunion and prom.

    "Our country had been attacked, and we felt very strongly that whatever we did to support our country, we would do," said 87-year-old Marilyn White Unger. "So we didn't feel any sense of personal loss, because the boys were fighting."

    Unger helped plan the reunion/prom, along with Anthony Pegnataro, 87, then class president who served in Guam and Okinawa during the war. Some of their classmates never came back from the war, and even more have perished in the years since.

    "I open the paper every morning, I look at the obituary page and I see two or three more classmates that have gone up to their maker," said Pegnataro.

    The "senior" prom means a lot more to 88-year-old Tony Pegnataro than most.  Pegnataro and his classmates explain they did whatever necessary to support the war during the 1940s, which meant forgoing their high school prom. But better late than never – they finally formed a committee and organized a classmate reunion all these years later.

    He estimates that of the 1,250 members of their graduating class, prom organizers have only been able to get ahold of about 10 percent of them. The group has been getting together every five years since 1946.

    And like nearly everything else about this prom, he did it the old fashioned way -- no Facebook, just phone calls.

    Just as if the prom had been held during the 1940s, on Sunday the group danced to the likes of the Glen Miller band. Though the music may have been the same, but the moves were different -- with some prom goers in wheelchairs.

    "Time's running out on all of us. Ya know, how many more years do we have?" said Pegnataro. "And we want to enjoy every year we got."

    NBC News

    Honey and Tony Pegnataro

  • Boy Scout's goal: Interview 1,000 World War II vets

    Rehema Ellis, NBC NEws writes

    Kyle Miller hasn’t been around long enough to have much of his own history, but at 16, he’s deeply involved in the military history that others created.

    When he was 12, Kyle, a Boy Scout, joined a group for World War II veterans. He was so fascinated by their stories that he became their archivist. Now he’s taken on an even bigger task to make certain their stories are around forever.

    Three WWII veterans tell how they fulfilled their duty to country.

    “At the beginning it would seem kind of strange to befriend somebody who’s three-quarters of a century older than me. But, when you really start talking to them, you realize they’re no different than you are,” he said.

    Kyle’s great-grandfather fought in the Battle of the Bulge, a major German offensive in France, Luxembourg and Belgium during the winter of 1944-45. He died when Kyle was 4-years-old. Being around veterans, Kyle said, he gets to experience what his great-grandfather might have shared with him.

    “I realized what heroes they truly are, how much they sacrificed for their families, their country and for people like me,” he said.

    To honor them, this young man from Pickerington, Ohio got the idea to collect the stories of 1,000 veterans of World War II and post them on a website he designed with his father, who is also his Scout leader.

    The project is called Voices from the Front. The project will also help him the attain the highest Boy Scout rank, Eagle Scout, which requires he demonstrate leadership while carrying out a community service project. He will also earn academic credit from his mother, who homeschools Kyle and his four siblings.

    “There are a lot of books out there that have captured a lot of stories but there’s a lot we don’t have, so this project is to get and capture more of the stories before the veterans die,” Kyle said. “There are always stories out there that we’re missing.”

    Among them, he said, stories about what was going on at home while the men were in battle.

    “You can always read about the battle strategy, but you don’t get the real personal aspect of it,” he said. “From the wives and people at home, all the way to the support units, and then onto the combat units. We want to capture all those stories to hear all those perspectives.

    With the help of volunteers, Kyle hopes to reach his goal of 1,000 voices by next fall. Meanwhile, Kyle has a new goal: To finish a book about veterans of the Battle of the Bulge.

  • Chicago strike reveals a broken system

    The Chicago Teachers Union agreed on Tuesday to end its strike, allowing 350,000 students to return to classes on Wednesday and ending a tense standoff. However, the contract still requires ratification by the union's 26,000 members. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.

    Rehema Ellis writes

    NEWS ANALYSIS 

    CHICAGO – Now that the Chicago teachers strike has ended, it is inevitable that people will try to figure out who won and who lost. But more might be gained if we went beyond that.

    What if more time were spent thinking about what students and the country gained from this strike, because it focused attention on the debate over teacher evaluations, the weight that is given to standardized tests and the growing demand for education reform?

    Broken system
    A lot has been said about the need to get rid of bad teachers and the union that protects them. The truth is union leaders will tell you they don’t like bad teachers, either. But the union would argue that it’s not their job to weed out bad teachers. Rather, they say, school leaders should do a better job identifying bad teachers and weeding them out.

    In Chicago, according to a 2009 report by the New Teachers Project, 91 percent of teachers were rated “superior” or “excellent” by school principals. Out of the nearly 30,000 teachers in the city public school system, only a small fraction received an “unsatisfactory” rating. But with student achievement at such a low level, clearly something must be wrong with how the evaluations were being done.

    So this is a good time to consider who’s responsible, in addition to teachers, for what happens in school. I spoke with several teachers on the picket line over the past few days who were concerned that they didn’t have books to start the school year. Why isn’t everyone up in arms about that? 

    Other teachers told me that they were assigned to classrooms outside of their area of expertise. One woman on the picket line told me she had taught English last year but she was trained to be a gym teacher. “I just tried to help out where there was a need,” she said. 

    Biggest losers of Chicago's teachers strike? The students, critic says

    Does anyone really believe she is the best English teacher for Chicago kids?  


    Should those students and that teacher be judged on how well she’s able to prepare them to take a standardized test?

    And don’t think this is an isolated, one-of-a-kind situation.  It’s not.  You will find similar stories in schools all across this nation.

    In Finland, where students far out perform American kids, they don’t take standardized tests at all. Students are measured by how well they do on their classroom work and drills.

    There is a collective national will in Finland to educate all students, and there’s a plan to succeed. Finland starts by hiring the best and the brightest to teach. Finnish teachers are required to have a master’s degree and teachers come from the top 10 percent of college graduates. Compare that to the U.S., where 47 percent of America’s teachers come from the bottom third of their class, according to a 2010 McKinsey report.

    Chicago teachers agree to end strike, classes to resume Wednesday

    Big issue: poverty
    Then there’s the issue of poverty and safety and how it affects teaching and learning.

    Mayor Rahm Emanuel went to court this week seeking an injunction to force an end to the strike claiming, in part, the walkout was a threat to “public health and safety.”

    As many as 87 percent of the public school children come from low-income families, according to figures from Chicago Public Schools.   

    More than 90 percent of them qualify for the free or reduced breakfast and lunch program.  For many, school is where they go, not just for an education, but for food. 

    It’s also where many children go to feel safe in a city stricken by far too much violence.

    The teachers hit the picket line demanding money, a fair evaluation system and job security but, they also wanted more social workers in the schools to help them help children who have been traumatized living in broken homes and broken neighborhoods.

    According to the Chicago Public Schools Employee Roster, there are 382 social workers in the school district that serves 350,000 students.  If my math is correct, that amounts to about one social worker for every 916 students. 

    “That means social workers are doing paper work because they don’t have time to do much of anything else,” said Lorraine Forte of Catalyst Chicago, an independent newsmagazine dedicated to reporting on urban education.  

    Education Nation: Get involved in our 2012 summit, Sept. 23-25

    Not unique
    Chicago’s school problems are not unique.  Poverty, crime and lack of resources affect schools all across the country.

    Experts are quick to point out that none of these issues should be used as an excuse for failing to educate America’s children. Teachers, city leaders, policy makers and education reform advocates all agree that these factors also shouldn’t be left out of the conversation. And in fact, they aren’t – but real solutions need to be found.

    Chicago has presented an opportunity for the nation to take a closer, more thoughtful look at a multitude of reasons why schools and test scores and graduation rates are lacking.  It might also inspire us to look at schools that are working to see if they could be replicated. 

    That’s what we will be doing starting this Sunday when NBC launches its Third Annual Education Nation Summit.  But what’s wrong with America’s schools won’t be fixed if too much time is spent adding up winners and losers from one strike.

    More content from NBCNews.com:

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  • At one school district, the motto is BYOT - Bring Your Own Technology

    Two years ago, Forsyth County School District outside Atlanta launched a technology program, encouraging students to BYOT – bring your own technology. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.

    Craig Stanley, NBC News writes

    iPhones, Nintendos and Kindles — devices synonymous with "fun" — are taking a new role in the classroom, thanks to a new trend in education called Bring Your Own Technology – or BYOT.

    BYOT programs — like the one at Georgia’s Coal Mountain Elementary School — encourage students to bring in their own personal mobile technology — including iPads, Kindle Fires, netbooks — even gaming devices — to use during class.

    “It’s really a simple thing,” says Tim Clark, District Technology Specialist for Forsyth County School District. “Kids have technology in their pockets and [are] taking them to school, but trying to hide them from teachers and from their parents. What we’re trying to do is have the kids take them out of their pockets and use [them] for instruction.”

    Technology can be incorporated into lessons in various ways — serving as a research tool, providing access to educational games and allowing students to create multimedia presentations. Clark says students who don’t have their own devices, or opt not to bring them, can use district-owned laptops and electronic resources.

    He says the program encourages participation and interaction because “it’s not a solitary type of activity where every child is buried in their device … it increases collaboration. It increases communication with the teacher. The teacher sees immediate feedback from the student’s work and the students are able to overcome other difficulties.”

    Tracey Abercrombie, a fifth grade teacher at Coal Mountain, has been impressed with the program in general and praises the difference it has made with her special education students. “I’ve got one [student] who has trouble getting [information],” Abercrombie says. “He can get the ideas formed but there’s a bit of difficulty getting them out verbally. There’s something about typing it, having it come up on that screen. All of a sudden the barrier is gone.”

    Clark says incorporating students’ personal devices in the classroom not only enhances learning, but teaches responsibility. “All of this is putting the responsibility on the shoulders of the students and [we’re] also trying to teach them and guide them to use their devices more effectively…not only taking care of their device and being careful not to drop it, but also wanting to make sure they know where it is at all times so it’s not stolen. [Using] it appropriately so they don’t post inappropriate pictures, so they don’t text inappropriate message to each other.”

    Those involved with the program say students aren’t the only ones with something to gain from BYOT. For example, Clark says teachers “can learn alongside their students instead of having to determine all of the ways that their students should learn … they get to ask questions and discover all these new uses of the devices themselves."

    Abercrombie agrees and has seen her teaching style change since the program began.

    “I thought my role was give them all the knowledge that I’ve got about something and use that textbook and my knowledge together," Abercrombie said. "Now I realize that’s not my job at all. My job is to facilitate them. My job is to point them in the right direction, give them the tools they need and — wow — they can do so much more.”

    Before launching BYOT in Forsyth County Schools, teachers and administrators explained the program’s structure and ground rules to parents and students. At first, Kara Laurie, who has two children at Coal Mountain Elementary, was apprehensive about allowing her kids to bring their devices to school. She says her initial reaction was that it “was a horrible idea … I had the normal parent concerns, you know, are things going to get broken? Are they going to get lost or stolen? And what about those kids that don’t have technology that they could take to school?”

    But as the program got underway, she saw “how much the kids were able to do with it in the classroom. I found that it was a phenomenal idea.”

    “We had to sit down as a class, as a team, and really define our rules because [the students are] used to using it any way at home,” Abercrombie says. “They’re used to … putting everything on Facebook, so we had to have a little talk about … different ways to use these devices in school.”

    Amy Anderson, another parent of two, was comforted by the district’s approach to the program. Her fourth grader uses a netbook in class, while her first grader has a Nintendo 3DS. “The administration "set some very clear ground rules at the beginning and we had to sign an agreement as parents and they had to sign an agreement as students that they would only stay on,” Anderson recalls. The students "have to be on the school network which has all of the filters. If they don’t abide by those, if they use them when they are not supposed to, if they use them incorrectly, then they lose that privilege of being able to bring it in.”

    In 2010, seven schools in Forsyth County School District began BYOT programs. This year, all 35 of the district’s schools are participating. While it is a relatively new idea, BYOT already exists in schools across the country, in states like Texas, Minnesota and Ohio.

    Clark says the district has received positive feedback, along with interest in the program.

    “I’m receiving messages from other districts that would like to come and see the implementation of bring your own technology in their schools … we recently held a tour of BYOT in our district … we had over 100 visitors on that tour. They were not only other districts, but also vendors wanting to understand how it’s impacting [the students].”

    As far as student reaction, Clark says “the students love it…[they] have their devices, they’re learning how to use them in a more responsible way, and they’re being critical thinkers and very creative with their devices in ways that they never would have used them on their own.”

  • Using books to build community

    A Wisconsin man is credited with starting a budding trend that is bringing an old fashioned way of accessing literature to people living in an Internet world. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.

    By Rehema Ellis, NBC News education correspondent

    MADISON -- Three years ago Todd Bol came up with an idea to remember his mother, a teacher who had loved books and encouraged people to read.  At his home in Hudson, Wisc., he built a box, made it waterproof and filled it with books.  It looked like a miniature one-room schoolhouse, with a sign underneath that said “Free Book Exchange.” Bol put it on a post outside of his house and invited neighbors to take a book, and return a book. 

    That’s when something happened Bol says he never could have imagined.

    “People of all ages, men, women, kids came up and just loved the library,” he said.  “They got excited and they started coming up to me saying, ‘I’ll build one, do you need books?’”   

    The idea has mushroomed.  Bol now encourages people to visit his website for suggestions on how to build their own library.

    Today there are Little Free Libraries in at least 28 states and six countries including Ghana, Australia and Afghanistan. And people from more than a dozen other countries have expressed interest, Bol said.

    On Bol's website he offers suggestions on how to build the libraries and sells kits for a fee starting around $100. Money donated to his non-profit helps build libraries in needy communities and developing countries. The website says, "If you need help let us know.  Don't let money get in the way."  

    You can find the little libraries not just in front of homes, but also outside of health centers, coffee shops, bike paths, bus stops and store fronts.   People are encouraged to send in a picture of their library so it can be posted on the website.  In return they get a "Little Free Library. Take a Book, Return a Book" sign to post on what they've built, as well as a Little Free Library Charter number.

    NBC News

    NBC's Rehema Ellis speaks with Little Free Library creator Todd Bol in front of one of his little free libraries, covered and designed
    with birch bark.

    Each library is unique. 

    "I've worked with people who will take pieces of their home or their old farm and they'll incorporate it into a library," Bol said.

    Some are made from old cranberry crates, or metal milk cartons, with hinges from old refrigerators.  In New Orleans, La., Bol said some libraries have been built using debris from Hurricane Katrina.  People will decorate them based on themes from their favorite books, such as “Jack and the Bean Stalk.”

    NBC News

    A local artist from Madison, Wisc., was commissioned to create a canine-themed Little Free Library designed to be installed near a dog park.

    And each one has become more than just a place for getting books and leaving books. Bol said the little libraries have fostered a greater sense of community.

    “There’s a primal need,” he said, “for people to be a part of their community.  We have people tell us all the time in seven days of having a Little Free Library I’ve met more people than I have met in 20 years in my neighborhood.”

    In Madison, Wisc., Meghan Blake-Horst put a little library in her front yard. "It's a continual conversation piece," she said. 

    NBC News

    Amy Poland walks by this little free library on the corner of her street in Madison, Wisc., every day.

    Terri Connolly Cronk, who also lives in Madison, said people in the neighborhood who never stopped and talked before are stopping now because of the library that rests on the corner of her property.  The library is not just encouraging readers, it's giving neighbors opportunities to get to know each other.

    Part of the allure of the Little Free Libraries, Bol said, is that you don’t need a library card.  There are no fees, no fines and no operating hours.  The Little Free Libraries are open for business 24/7.  So any time of day, people can get a book or share a book, hopefully a page turner.

    Now one can only imagine that in this age of electronic books, Todd Bol’s mother would have loved how his story to honor her is turning out.

  • What we can all learn from formerly homeless teen Samantha Garvey

    By Rehema Ellis
    NBC News

     

    Samantha Garvey, the homeless teen who was a semifinalist in the prestigious Intel Science competition, told me this week her mother "has been crying a lot."  But unlike when the family was evicted from their home on New Year’s Eve, now she says it’s tears of happiness. After the news broke about how Samantha, 18, was able to stay focused on her studies even as her family was mired in turmoil, there has been an outpouring of admiration for her.  She attended the State of the Union address, appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” and on “TODAY.”  Plus, there have been several offers to help her pay for college expenses. 

    What I learned this week from Samantha’s teachers and guidance counselors, however, is that this young woman who seems so poised in front of all the cameras did have moments when she struggled. 

    “She was always worried about her family.  She was always worried about her brother and sister and the stress it was putting on them,” said Karin Feil, Samantha’s Brentwood High School guidance counselor.

    Like any other senior, Feil told me, Samantha wondered, “‘How am I going to pay for prom? How am I going to get my yearbook? What about my class ring? What about my school pictures?”

    Feil said there were times when Samantha wanted to cut back on her studies and just get a job to help support her family. She  decided to stick with her first job, which is school,  hoping that somehow her needs would be answered. 

    Still, it’s been tough. 

    Despite the fact that both her parents have jobs (Samatha's father is a cab driver, and her mother is a hospital worker), they’re part of America’s working poor.  A few family hardships left them unable to keep up with the bills and they ended up homeless.  

    “My parents, they always said, ‘Keep your head up. If you look down and you just keep moping, nothing’s gonna come out of it.’ And I always took that to heart. And I just kept a positive mentality,” Samantha told me.

    It’s a remarkable story of perseverance. 

    But even as we’ve celebrated Samantha, we haven’t heard much about the many other families who are just like hers.  According to the latest figures from the Department of Housing and Urban Development an estimated 567,340 families were living in shelters in 2010. More than 141,600 children were in shelters on a single night.

    Once a family loses its home, finding another one can be difficult. Often landlords want the first month’s rent along with the last month and a security deposit. 

    Samantha’s family, however, has gotten help from New York’s Suffolk County Office of Social Services.  The agency offered them an affordable house through a regular county program that helps about 40 families every month move out of shelters.  County officials say the need is growing every day.  At some point, Samantha’s family will move on, and the county will use their space to help someone else. But it’s not clear how long it will take the Garveys to regain their footing. 

    While there have been offers to help Samantha pay for college, scholarship money cannot be used to pay old family bills. The Garveys have got to figure out a way to clear their debt if they hope to really get back on their feet. 

    Meanwhile, Samantha learned this week she was not chosen as a finalist in the science competition.  But the attention showered on this 18-year-old  has given her and her family a much needed boost and every reason to believe they’ve got a winning future ahead.

     

     

  • The Waldorf Way: Silicon Valley school eschews technology

    By Rehema Ellis
    NBC News

    From the moment you walk into the Waldorf School of the Peninsula there are clear signs that something different is happening.

    Allysun Sokolowski, a third-grade teacher,  greets each one of her 29 students by name and shakes their hand as they enter the classroom. It's easy for her because she's known these kids at the Los Altos, Calif., school for a while.

    "I've been teaching the same children from first grade, second grade and now we're in third grade. And I will teach these children all the way through eighth grade," she said.

    It's the Waldorf way.

    Teachers establish a strong bond with students. As a result, Waldorf teachers quickly point out there's no need for tests or grades.

    "I don't need grades to know how well they're doing," said Sokolowski. "I know their strengths, I know their weaknesses. I know what will be hard for them and where they will shine. I'm their teacher with a capital 't.'"

    The intense student-teacher connection might help explain why students from elementary to high school are thriving. The school boasts a nearly perfect graduation rate.

    Despite being in the heart of Silicon Valley, Waldorf students are not caught up in the gadget frenzy that has consumed so many other school children nationwide. Computers are not used in the elementary school and they are used sparingly at the high school level. Teachers say they're not anti-technology, but, as they put it, they're just in favor of healthy education.

    Read the New York Times’ report on the Waldorf school

    "I'm concerned that if we say we need technology to engage students we're missing the fact that what engages students is good teachers and good teaching," said Lisa Babinet, a Waldorf math teacher.

    I asked a group of high school students if they misssed having computers and iPads as part of their lessons they all emphatically said "No."

    The San Antonio Elementary School focuses on technology and feels it helps close the achievement gap in under-served communities by getting students ready for the digital age.

    "I don't think we're gonna be left behind at all because it's not like we're not a part of technology at all," said sophomore Isabelle Senteno. "We are a part of it, we just don't incorporate it in the lessons."

    Jack Pelose, a freshman who transferred to Waldorf from a school that used a lot of technology, said he noticed the benefits of not using computers in class. "My cursive has gotten a lot better since I've been here," he said.

    "Everything about technology is so easy to pick up and use nowadays," added senior Zach Wurtz added. "The companies design it so anyone can use it when they choose to."

    The students talked about being annoyed sometimes when they hang out with friends who are not Waldorf students, who spend a lot of time on social networking sites and texting.

    Video: At another Silicon Valley school, iPads are in vogue

    One Waldorf student said he sometimes has to ask his friends to put down the gadgets so they can just talk.

    And if you're wondering, like I did, how the Waldorf education translates in the outside world, Laila Waheed, a graduate now in her first year of college, offered some insight.

    Waheed, 18, has a laptop but never takes it to lectures. She takes notes by hand -- like she did at Waldorf -- and she later transfers her notes into her computer. It's a form of studying, she said.

    "If you stood at the back of the classroom and looked at every screen, at least half of them would be on Facebook," Waheed said of all the other students who are typing away on their laptops during lectures.

    "A Waldorf education gives you a foundation to say, 'OK, I can put my phone in my bag. I can have a half-an-hour conversation with a person. I don't need to be totally connected all the time,'" Waheed said. "And that's more valuable for making personal connections that will last longer than the next text you're going to get."

    It sounds like something a Waldorf student would say. But it’s also a sentiment echoed by her father, an engineer manager at Cisco.

    "I don't think anyone is debating the value of technology and the use of computers," Muneer Waheed said. "There is no going back. This is the future."

    But he and his wife have been clear about wanting the mostly technology-free zone that Waldorf provides for their two children.

    "They need the environment and the foundation to develop and get their core values -- the love of education and their own passion," he said. "That's what's going to stay with them. The computer is just a tool."

    See more of Rehema Ellis' reporting on NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams Wednesday evening.

  • Shanghai kids show intense spirit for learning

    Susan Kroll/NBC News

    By Rehema Ellis
    NBC News Chief Education Correspondent

    Before I arrived in Shanghai, I had this image of people obediently doing what they were told because that's what happens in Communist China, right? I thought that would explain how Shanghai's 15-year-olds managed to beat their competition - including the United States - on international tests in reading, math and science. They did so well on the tests, I thought, because the government gives them the tools they need. They are admonished by everyone around them to study hard and they do.

    I saw some of that when I visited Yucai High School in Shanghai, where I met a young student, Xing Hao, who actually took the international tests.

    "The math is not very difficult," he said in perfect English, "because I studied."

    But Xing Hao went on to say he was self-motivated to study hard because his goal is “to organize to protect ocean creatures so [he has] to study to attend a good college to make [his] dream come true."

    China's college entrance exams are grueling and are viewed as the gateway to adult success. In Shanghai, a city of 23 million people - almost three times the size of New York City - there is a lot of competition and students had better be prepared. But beyond a commitment to work hard, what I found in China is that Shanghai's academic success is rooted in a national culture that embraces education as a real asset.

    It should be mentioned, however, that the academic success in China's largest city has not yet spread to the vast rural areas such as Loudi in Hunan Province, about 1,000 miles from Shanghai. There, I visited an elementary school surrounded by rice paddies. The buildings were in disrepair. Children sat at worn out desks and worked with broken pencils and pens.

    Susan Kroll/NBC News

    But their spirit for learning was intense and inspiring. Twelve-year-old Wang Zhihong told me her parents and grandparents want her to be a doctor. The harsh reality is that only 25 percent of rural Chinese kids go to college, versus 80 percent in Shanghai and 70 percent in the United States. But Zhihong and her family know nothing about those numbers and their dreams are still big.

    Back in Shanghai, students like Xing Hao are well aware that they are helping to enhance their nation's image. And yet, I saw something in Xing Hao and many of his classmates that wasn't just obedience to an idea. I got the sense that he really believes in the importance of learning. He didn't sound coached or rehearsed.

    He went on to say he'd like to have more free time "to expand [his] horizons." But he told me that pursuit of idle pleasures will come later - after he's taken care of the business of getting an education.

    For about 900 students at Yucai High School getting an education doesn't involve the latest high-tech tools. With about 40 students per class, I didn't see any Smart Boards or iPads in classrooms. I saw only one computer in the science lab. I did see many motivated and engaging teachers. Shanghai prides itself on teacher training.

    There were other indications that the Chinese society as a whole is genuinely interested in Shanghai students. From the gardeners at Yucai High who meticulously cared for the campus grounds dotted with Confucius statues, to the lunch room workers who served healthful dishes of rice, meat and steamed vegetables, to the security staff members who were polite and watchful, they all seemed focused on creating the best learning environment possible for kids.

    That environment creates little space for anything besides studying. At Yucai High students watch just 30 minutes of television a day during the school week. The program they watch is the news.

    Susan Kroll/NBC News

    By contrast, American students between the ages of eight and 18 spend an average of seven and a half hours per day using electronics, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. That's more than 53 hours per week.

    For those who wonder if the rigorous study habits make Chinese students robotic, unimaginative and therefore great test-takers but not great students - who have yet to invent their own Silicon Valley - some Chinese educators also wonder. Teachers told me the government is now encouraging schools and families to give kids more free time to be creative.

    The kids I met were already engaged in creative thinking. They were inquisitive and funny and always polite. During class breaks I saw them fooling around and making jokes. They asked me questions about American life, President Obama, rap music and Oprah. They also wanted to know what other countries I had visited and what life was like there and how it compared to what they learned in school about different places.

    Shanghai kids are studying how global events might have local consequences and it's not just because their government is telling them to. They are starting to think outside the box of preconceived notions that folks have of them. That's what prepared them to ace the international tests.

    There is a lesson there for all of us.

     

    Photos by Susan Kroll, NBC News producer

  • Understanding at Heathrow

    One of the things that we are discovering here at Heathrow Airport is that people are now being informed that there is going to be a new norm when you go to the airport. We thought that was already the case after 9/11, but today marks the beginning of another new reality people are going to have to get accustomed to when traveling. 

    Here at Heathrow Airport, Europe's largest airport, passengers are being told that they can only carry things on-board that can be seen through a see-through plastic bag. That means just the essentials like travel documents, passports, tickets. That does not include cell phones, laptops, or any electronic equipment at all.

    ..And no liquids. Many people are accustomed to getting on planes and carrying extra water, a soft drink, or coffee. As of today, that is not going to be allowed. We understand that is because authorities believe that this suspected terrorist plot included a bomb that could have been ignited with some liquid chemical component. Therefore, they have instituted these very stringent measures.

    Inside the terminal here people are anxious and want to know what is happening with their flights. Many flights have been cancelled and are not leaving here. And hundreds of flights have been canceled that were scheduled to arrive. People are also being kept outside the terminal until it is their check-in time – so that authorities can try to maintain control.

    It may surprise you, but it is also relatively calm in the terminals here. People apparently are understanding and, in some cases, appreciative of the strict security measures. Many are saying that if this is necessary to keep them safe, then so be it.