High School Education Takes On a Global Dimension (Transcript)

Paul: Hey, good morning, Matthew, can you hear me fine?

Matthew: Yes.

Narrator: It’s 7:30 on the north side of Chicago.

Paul: Okay, we’re mostly here. We’re missing a couple of people.

Narrator: And for Walter Payton High School’s championship math team, it’s time for donuts–

Student: I prefer it with jelly.

Narrator: And distance learning.

Matthew: You can start with an integer like two–

Narrator: A Q and A with a mathematician in Switzerland.

Matthew: There’s an infinite number of integers, so there are an infinite possible number of states, and this turns out to be how you can store an arbitrary amount of information.

Paul: Matt Cook really is one of the world experts in this field. And so this is an opportunity for them to interact with somebody who’s actually doing research in the area that we’re talking about, and that’s really neat.

Narrator: At this science math and world language magnet, every subject seems to have a global dimension.

Paul: Conceivably, if every city is connected to every other city, like, one obvious algorithm here is void segment C, D.

In a single day, we could talk about math problems from China, which is how I introduced one of my units in trigonometry. Geometry problems from Japan, computation problems from France, I mean, the possibilities are really endless.

Ellen: Payton began with a vision that, by putting together a great faculty of teachers who had the desire to nurture global leaders, we would be able to create a curriculum and programs to set us apart from any other high school in the nation.

Narrator: One distinguishing factor is Payton’s requirement of four years of foreign language study. Offerings include Spanish, French, Mandarin and Japanese.

Language acquisition is a profound thing, because when you learn another language, you learn the way other people think. You are really learning to keep several points of view in mind. It’s important to have more than one perspective, now more than ever.

Jeremy: My friends and my family, they’re very much happy to see me try to learn these languages, because they are quite difficult. At the same time, they’re quite fun, and I’m learning so much about foreign countries and about foreign affairs, just based on taking Japanese for a couple of years.

Narrator: The school plays host to a steady stream of visitors.

Ellen: Good morning, and welcome to Walter Payton College Prep.

Narrator: Like this delegation of 25 Chinese Mayors.

Ellen: You are in a wonderful, wonderful city right now, the City of Chicago, the city of immigrants.

Narrator: This group gathered at The Confucius Institute, a resource center at Payton, funded through a partnership between the Chinese government and the city of Chicago.

Ellen: We’re very proud to host the Confucius Institute and to give a global perspective to our school.

Robert: We really want to make sure Chicago is at the forefront of Chinese people’s minds, when they’re thinking about the United States. So we teach our children, not only the language, but we teach them the Chinese culture, and that’s going to create a strong foundation for the city, so that more and more business and cultural exchanges can go on in the future.

Narrator: Chicago has the largest Chinese language program in the United States, with more than 6,000 students studying Chinese in 28 schools.

I have to make it fun and easy, and then also at the same time, they have to feel like they are– they’re learning a lot.

And then make them laugh, and I try to make them laugh every day, so that they think, oh, it’s not boring, and then, when they like it, they’ll do well.

Robert: We have many, many students who are recent immigrants from Mexico, and they all speak Spanish at home, and they are learning Chinese and English at the same time, so essentially, these kids will go through 13 years of education, where they’re learning English, Spanish and Chinese, and they will come out pretty much as the most marketable students in the United States.

Teacher: Good. Are we ready? And..

Narrator: Technology plays a key role here, from tools to create rap videos in French..

Doctor: So it doesn’t cut through the aorta.

Narrator: To this health class where students interact with doctors performing open heart surgery at a Southside hospital.

Teacher: What about Walter Payton, do you guys have any questions?

Student: Doctor, I was just curious. How would this surgery differ if somebody had already had a bypass surgery?

Doctor: That’s a good question. Fundamentally it’s the same operation, you know, that–

Narrator: The same technology has facilitated face-to-face encounters with students in several sister schools.

Student: I’d love to give you some information about my school–

Ellen: We connect with an all Islamic Intercity school in Casa Blanca, Morocco, a school in Osaka, Japan, we have sister schools in Concepcion, Chile, and in China. And a school in Durban, South Africa.

Student: I want you to play me something.

Luis: It’s amazing, I mean, to see our students’ reaction when they get so see someone from South Africa, from Morocco, and even though they are so far, and they speak another language, they still do the same thing, they still like going to movies, they still like dancing, they still sing and they’re teenagers.

Narrator: Most students prefer real world exchanges to virtual ones, and by raising their own funds, all students have the opportunity to travel abroad.

Grace: When we were in France, all the things said, Coiffeur, on it. I think that’s–

Narrator: French student, Grace Stome, visited Strasbourg, France, and spent a week in Morocco.

Grace: The second the plane touched the ground, we knew this was going to be way more than we could ever expect, a great experience. Everyone there was so hospitable and welcoming. We met all these dignitaries but that was– while that was nice, it was even better to get to spend time with the kids and talk to them, and go to their classes, and go home with them on home stays. We wanted to speak French with them, but they said, no, no, let us speak English. We want to show you how we can speak English, and it was just an eye opening experience that I’ll never forget.

Robert: Educators should always be looking at how can we open more doors for students. I find that when you open those doors, and when you expand those horizons, you never can close them, and that’s going to change these students’ lives, and their families’ lives and their communities lives forever.

Wenya. Electronic flower? No. Okay?

Narrator: For more information on, What Works in Public Education, go to edutopia.org.