don't feel it yet, but they have got 10, 11 months to start feeling that. so that's what it will drive it. >> and thank you all for watching state of the union, if you missed any part of today's show, you can find us on i-tunes, fareed zakaria, gps is next. this is gps, the global public square. welcome to you in the united states and around the world, i'm fareed zakaria. are america it's kids falling behind the rest of the world? recent release of international test scores suggests the answer might be yes. i'll have a power house panel to talk about the problems and solutions. former new york city school chancellor joel klein. tom freedman of the "new york

times." then, to understand the protests that have royaled in the ukraine over the past few weeks, you have to go back a bit, to 1654. and an execution in the -- why did north korea's kim jong-un have his own uncull killed and what does it mean for the rest of the world? and how well do you know your world? you'll be surprised at what you don't know. but first here's my take, in the midst of the extraordinary spectacle of nelson mandela's funeral, in a stadium with some 9 0,000 mourners including more than 90 heads of government. a small gesture got the world's attention. on his way he shook hands with the return to the right. the focus of that hand shake ricochetted around the world. understandably, because the man obama shook hands with was raul castro, president of cuba.

remember the united states does not have diplomatic relations with cuba and has a -- many wondered whether this hand shake was the beginning of a great shift in policy. i hope so. let's begin by asking whether the existing policy is working. in 1960, the united states enacted an embar goe against cuba. it's purpose was simple and explicit, regime change. did it work? well, until he retired from the presidency in 2008, fidel castro was the longest serving head of government in the world. surely that's about as powerful evidence one can get that the policy did not work and is not working. the truth is that cuba's miserable economy is almost entirely it's own fault. the castro regime has coupled political repression with communist economic policies a and the result predictably has been total failure and stagnation. but things are changing in cuba.

the government has been experimenting with opening up elements of the economy. by some estimates, about 20% of the cuban economy is now in the private sector. the best path forward for washington is one that has been recommended by many experts. the united states should shift from a policy of regime change in cuba, which has not worked. to one that promotes human rights. president obama should offer the cuban government a series of steps that would relax restrictions on trade and travel, but only if they are matched by real economic and political reforms in cuba. let the cuban people know, for example, that if it's government were to free all political prisoners, the united states would be willing to relax the embargo. americans should have greater faith in the power of markets, trade and travel, to eat away at

the cuban dictatorship, strengthen kaub cuban society. washington has tried isolation, sanctions and embargoes against cuba for more than five decades with dismal results. why not try capitalism for five years? let's get started. an absolute wakeup call for america, that's what u.s. education secretary arnie duncan called the recent release of test scores showing how american kids compared with their peer's around the world. the program is called the program for international assessment or piza. 17th in reading, 25th in science, 25th in math. which doesn't look good. how do we improve them.

joel kline is the former chancellor of new york city's school system. we one of the most innovative educators in the world and of course the founder of kahn academy. joel, you have seen these results for years. what do you think is the big take away from this set of results? >> the clear take away is we're stuck and we're not getting the results we need with our kids and we're going to pay a huge price if we don't change, change quickly and change rapidly. two points that people should understand. piza tests the kind of skills that the market is going to demand t kind of higher order, complex thinking that in a global high-tech economy our children need to have if they're going to succeed. and the failure to have those skills is going to mean they're not going to be able to get the jobs they want. the world is changing so

rapidly. that's the first take away, the second take away, this is not a problem with poor children or children who grew up in deprived environments, this is a problem across the board in america. our highest performing kids are not remotely getting the results that other countries are getting. we're losing by two to one at the top of this challenge as well as at every other level below it. it's no longer acceptable. we really need to change, fareed, and we need to change quickly and dramatically. tinkering is not going to do it. >> john, you went to the highest performing school in the world with wendy, what was your take away going to that school in shanghai as to what the secret to their success is? '. >> wendy and i went to this school with grades 1 through 5. dow ho do you do? do you have the kids stand on

their head in the morning? do you have them hold their breath? what we discovered was, the big secret, we found it, there is no secret. they just execute across a system the best practices that we all know are the things that are differentiating in education. they are giving teachers an enormous amount of time to work on their own professional development and to collaborate and learn from one other. teachers there teach about 70% of the time and work on their own skills about 30% of the time. they work intensively with parents. we talked to a reading teach who said she talked to the parents about three times a week with every student, either directly or through e-mail. they tutor students and help them with their home work. and they have a culture of learning where kids are expected to come to school ready to learn. what you have when you have a systematic solution like this is you make the weakest teachers much better across a wide system

and you're able to direct your best teachers ago it the hardest kids. and the most important thing about this school that wendy and i went to is 40% of the kids came from my grant families. so this was not some elite school. >> you're not as worried, i sometimes think when we talk about these test scores. you think there's a lot more to education than just test scores? >> the place where i am less worried. sometimes when you see these national rankings, you say the countries a the top are the ones that are going to eat our lunch one day. i think the u.s. is in a very good position. we have been middling on these country wide ranks for about 50 years, but the amount of innovation and economic creation that's been happening in the u.s. has only been accelerating. the u.s. is in that dimension a good position because of it's dynamic economy, because of its

inventiveness, because of its culture of creativity. and i agree with everyone who's talked before. is try to get more into the school system, try to get the school system to make sure that people have the skills so that everyone can participate in this economic engine. >> wendy, it seems to me what sal is saying is we don't need to become more like south korea, we need to become more like the very best of america, a kind of combination of rigor and inventiveness and open mindedness and creative thinking? >> of course i agree. i i think what the piza shows us is how much wasted potential there is in this country. it shows us what's possible. and i think what tom spoke to about what we saw in shanghai was that this is not some magic, it's not something that's unique to the chinese culture and i thought this was so fascinating. we go in there and we're listening to the man who's really led not only their

engagement in piza, but intelligent indication system in the last few sec dads. he says the number one driver of our success is the quote, open door policy. we sent our j indicators to other countries and that drove a revolution in this country. and i just think it's so fascinating because i would say we're far from that. question look at the piza ranks and it's like, les defend america rather than let's go fijd out what they are doing differently in these countries that are so far ahead. >> to the point that there's not some magic to chinese culture, what i was struck by is that the shanghai school is two years ahead of the massachusetts school, which is our top performing school. if you just do the math, china has a 230-day school year, we have a 180-day school year, that's 50 days a year. at 15, you've done ten years of school. that's 500 days, so the 15-year-old chinese kid has been in school 2 1/2 years longer than the massachusetts student. >> that's such an important

point and i really hope the viewers get their heads around it. the kid in shanghai is going to school 50 days a year, we're not talking about two or three days, 50 days a year difference. and america is still the most dynamic innovative economy in so many ways. >> wire going to hope that somehow technology will solve all this. i will ask sal kahn whether he is going to save american education when we come back. bake the world a better place with nestle toll house.

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we are back talking about education. sal, you are at the forefront of what is often described as this revolution, finally the internet and information technology is gooing to revolutionize education, it's happening in the united states more than anywhere else. can this online learning a at the kahn academy and the massive online courses that colleging offer, is this going to gets us around what otherwise seems like a very rigid bureaucracy which

hasn't been able to adopt to the new challenges that education needs? >> so it's still very, very early days to know for sure. but it does feel like something special is going on. what's exciting, if we talk about kahn academy which is more focused on k through 12 you're now seeing very serious institutions really rethink their models. it's not about hey, technology is going to solve the problem, it's that technology allows us to think from a blank slate. if students can get exercises and video at their own time and pace, maybe class time doesn't have to be about lectures, maybe teachers can spend more time doing more projects, being able to spends more time one-on-one with students. it's very early days, but we're starting to see kind of cracks in the ice. this goes to the solution, i think it's going to be led by

america where it's not emlating other folks, we can definitely learn what they're thinking, this will take shanghai and singapore and finland to new heights. >> american culture doesn't support learning in the same way. in china bill gates is britney spears. in america britney spears is conspira britney spears. >> i have gotten several of these in a basically, you know, described as his class which is, you know got a lot of a students and a real lot of f student where is kids just don't do their home work, they don't come to school prepared and they don't appreciate the connection between skills and their job opportunities. and a lot of the distractions facebook, twitter, all of these things, i don't think we appreciate how much of a

distraction this is and there's too many parent who is become enablers, johnny and susie are stressed, they need time for facebook, they need time for soccer. you don't know what stress is. stress will be not understanding this thick chinese accept of your kids first boss. that will be stress. >> when you look at these other countries, what i'm struck by is there's almost no athletics involved. you know, if you were to go to finland, germany, south korea, singapore and say i want to play soccer. they would say there's a league next door. why are you asking us? we're an educational institution. yet if you look at high schools in america, the degree of the time, energy money devoted to, say, football is huge. that must be a distraction. >> it is, and part of the problem goes back to we start with so little time to begin with. and then we try to move the time

away from some of the basics. let me just pick up on one point which i think is a point, u.s. alibi with technology. the thing will change education is teaching and learning. it's at that interface where it happens. technology can make teachers more empowered, more effective, the kind of things that sal is doing to help them. >> and you have a company amplified doing the same kind of thing. i think that's right. but i really, when you're struck by, when you listen to wendy and you listen to tom, they bent to visit this school in shanghai. what that was about was great teachers, we got to get great teachers constantly getting better and give them the tools and the help. >> and to you that means teacher evaluations? >> better pay, means more time on task. and it means the constant improvement that wendy, tom and others have long talked about. when you talk about these teachers constantly working with a each other, getting better at

their craft and using technology to empower and enable them, and to engage kids, that's where technology can change the game for us. >> wendy, your teach for all is now in 36 countries, what seemed to be the best practices that are applicable? >> one thing is, just to go back to the shanghai example. it was about teachers, it's also about school leaders and it's about system leadership, like, you know, we were blown away by the caliber of the folks who have over a long time driven the change and if you get under the covers, shanghai schools are stronger than others and they take those that are -- so that they can transfer the practices. this is a people business. i actually couldn't agree more that technology can give a ton of leverage to really strong people. but to me, we need, and this is what teach for all is about all,

we got to start channeling or top talent towards this challenge of educational outcomes for the most disadvantaged kids and that needs to happen all across the world. >> john, when you look at this problem and you see the obstacle, longer days, teacher evaluation, longer years, teachers unions in general are opposed to all of this. is this politically feasible? >> i think it is politically feasible. it's going to take wise leadership, obviously, you know, the democratic party is dependent on teachers unions. but my wife is a member of the teacher's union. my daughter was a member of the teacher's union. i find that many, many of the teachers that i interface with, they want to do better, they want to excel. and there are teachers unions that are trying to work with reformers across the country. the thing we have to keep in mind is we need better teachers and we also need better parents, more focused on their kids

learning. we need better political leader who is want to compare themselves with the best chinese schools, not just the district next door. we need better business leader who is care about what happens in the school, not just outsource the jobs wherever they can get them. and we need better students, who come to school ready to learn not to text. y it takes a ville raj. >> thank you all, this is terrific. tom freedman, sal kahn, joel kline, wendy kof. i'll tell you why this is not going to be a ukrainian spring. there's a saying around here, you stand behind what you say. around here you don't make excuses. you make commitments.

and when you can't live up to them, you own up, and make it right. some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country has gone missing in the places where it's needed most. but i know you'll still find it when you know where to look. our holiday storefronts. what do you see here? angels? you know, something like that. reality check, not all 4g lte coverage maps look alike. i see footprints in the snow.

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now for a what in the world segment. take a look at these extraordinary pictures from the ukraine. protesters in kiev knocking down a giant statue of the russian

revolutionary leader vladimir leno. tens of thousands of ukrainians cheering them on. at the heart of these protests is a widespread frustration not only with the government in kiev, but more so with russian interference. to some, the moment recalled another defining moment from 1989. that was the year communism fell across eastern europe leading to the end of the soviet union and of course to ukraine's independence. you need to go much further back in history to understand what's really going on in ukraine. first here's what sparked the crisis. in november, the president pulled out of a deal to forge ties with the european union. he had another officer from

moscow. russia wants him to form to the union. this is not a new story. the tug of war over ukraine is rooted in history. in his book the clash of civilizations, the political scientist samuel huntington pointed out that the divide between western and eastern christianity runs right through the heart of ukraine. and that divide between two kinds of christianity and thus two paths of the political development dates back to the middle ages. and it resonates in ukraine's politics to this day. take a look at this map from ukraine's 1994 presidential elections. shaded in gray on the left are the provinces that voted for the incumbent. on the right was the prorussian. both took 13 provinces each an even split, reflecting ukraine's deep historical, cultural

divide. while ukraine might have mixed feelings about its destiny, power politics has pushed it in one direction. huntington notes that in 1654, this was the defining moment that the cossacks -- fighting off polish rule. from then on until independence in 1991, krukraine was controll by moscow. the question is will this domination continue into the 21st century? it shouldn't. much has changed since 1654, the forces of democracy, globalization, trade and technology give ukraine much greater freedom of action. and it shouldn't be one person's decision to align with russia or europe. that's the anger that you see on the streets of kiev. the people want to be involved in this fateful decision. the choice on either side is clear. europe will want ukraine to

modernize, to become more liberal and free and to undertake serious economic reformless if it wants to become closer to the west. that choice is difficult in the short-term, but as long-term payoffs. the alternative is rather different, under vladimir putin, russia essentially wants to maintain a sphere of influence which would enhance russian power. putin will use a mixture of threats, bribes and his own media resources to reach this goal. i was struck by one moment last week on russian tv. a russian journalist -- suddenly a ukrainian journalist pops into the picture and awards him what looks like an oscar, it was for good acting i suppose. this battle for people's hearts and minds will continue in the coming weeks. but the real decision point comes in 2015 when ukraine next

goes to vote. perhaps this will be a turning point like 1654. up next, why kim jong-un ordered the execution of his own uncle. wh americans take care of business. they always have. they always will. that's why you take charge of your future. your retirement. ♪ ameriprise advisors can help you like they've helped millions of others. listening, planning, working one on one. to help you retire your way... with confidence. that's what ameriprise financial does.

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held low, i'm martin savidge with a check of the top stories. tens of millions of people from kansas to maine digging out from a brutal winter storm. it has dumped over to 16 inches of snow across the region and it's still falling in northern new england. airlines try to get back on track. some christmas packages may also arrive a little later because fedex says the storms caused major disruptions at its hub in memphis. the world said goodbye to nelson mandela today. he was buried in the hills of his childhood village with full military honors. south african president jacob zuma says this is the end of a freedom fighter. he went to prison for leading the fight against the apartheid. an unmanned chinese roverer studying the surface of mars.

it will take soil samples for the next three months on solar power. this china's first moon rover. florida state quarterback james win citizen is celebrating his first heisman trophy. they will not file charges in the year-old rape allegation that just became public last month. a lawyer for the alleged verdict asking for further investigation. win stead is the youngest player ever to win the heisman. coming up in our 3:00 hour, we'll see more audio recordings that reveal the final moments of 19 firefighters who died fighting a wildfire in arizona. the family dynamics of the ruling kim family of north korea are fascinating to begin with. the pate tree yark of the family and the founder of the nation,

il-sung is afforded bod like status. his son, kim jong-il was brutal once handed the reigns of dictator ship. a and it was hoped that his son would be the kinder, gentler dictator. kim's uncle, a man who had been regarded as the second most powerful man in the kingdom has been executed. what to make of all of this, what does it mean for north korea's neighbors, what does it mean for the united states? joining me now is kurt campbell who until earlier this year was the -- the assistant u.s. secretary of state. give me your rea action, what do you make of what's going on? because nobody really understands this black box that is north korea. >> i would simply say that it's easy to forget, but the korean

peninsula is still the most dangerous place on the planet and the north korean leadership is deeply unpredictable under the best of circumstances. and this new leader which is really just a kid, kim jong-un has proven himself time and time again over the course of the last few years to be dangerous, almost uncontrollable. and with very few touch stones in asia. china normally had the ability to engage north korea and control its destiny somewhat. i think that process has -- that threat has passed. he is taking north korea in a very dangerous direction. high tensions with japan, with china, with south korea and the united states. they really stand alone on the global stage, they're well aarmed and i think increasingly will become desperate. >> could the nature of this whole thing is it's so fascinating, they released photographs of 3,000 word document alleging that the uncle

was planning a military coup, was trying to destroy the economy and then plan a military coup so he could take over and spent lots of money and raise the economy. the core of that question is why did they feel they needed to do that and is there likely to be a very strong faction of the military that was and remains against kim jong-un and in favor of the government? in other words do we have a dangerous of a real power struggle within north korea? >> the fundamental truth is, we really do not know. we know that -- probably was, probably the most sophisticated inter -- probably the most internationalist, probably the one that understood most about how the -- he had the closest relationships in china. he a in many respects was the person that the international community was counting on to

provide some stable council to this young upstart. i think we saw pretty clearly on however that he had unusual powers and that people were looking to him in a way to play this role and for a young, inexperienced leader blown to violence, he could be threatening. i think it would be fair to say that kim jong-un spent several ore eight years out of north korea in schools in switzerland. we went to pains, great pains to interview and engage with almost everyone, classmates, others to try to get a sense of what his character was like even at an early period in his life. the general recounting of this experience let us to believe that he was danger, unpredictable, prone to violence and with delusions of grandeur, obviously, subsequently we find out that he's the leader of north korea, so those were probably based on some

expectation of what his future would hold for him. but we have seen so many zigs and zags and really this is only the most recent experience of public execution of the course of the last couple of months. i think that that -- these actions will be destabilizing internally and will create more internal sense that north korea may not be on the right track going forward. >> we have 30 seconds. china support this is regime, 90% of the energy, 50% of the food, at the end of the day, they fear north korean collapse more than anything else. so with all this said, my guess is the chinese will still very reluctantly keep this regime afloat. >> i agree with that. one of the great diplomats of china enormously experienced described north korea like this, he said north korea is like a can of dog food. he said if you leave it on the

shelf unopened, it can last forever, but as soon as you open it, it will spoil rapidly. >> kurt campbell t obama administration's point man on asia until very recently. thank you so much. up next, a really smart take on why islam has a perception problem. and what it will take to reform it. right back with the turkish thinker. ♪ ♪ [ tires screech ] chewley's finds itself in a sticky situation today after recalling its new gum. [ male announcer ] stick it to the market before you get stuck. get the most extensive charting wherever you are with the mobile trader app from td ameritrade. [ female announcer ] to bake. or not to bake. that is a silly question.

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modern islam is full of contrast, conflicts and contradictions, some of the faithful seem stuck in the 16th century or even early while others are racing into the 21st. one of the sharpest stakes is a new book by turkey's finalest political analyst. it's called islam without extremes, a muslim case for liberty. it's a gps book of the week. he joined me recently to discuss the future of islam. pleasure to have you on. >> it's a pleasure to be on the show, fareed, thank you. >> why do you think islam has

such a kind of brutal image? even well meaning people, even tolerant peel basically believe that at the end of the day there's something in the religion that seems to breed fanatacism or intolerance or violence. and that if you look at an event around the world, if it's a terrorist event or something like that, there is a tendency to assume that it must be those muslims out there somewhere, nigeria, indonesia, why do you think that is? >> that is because honestly there are fanatic, intolerant muslims who have been making the news because they have been doing or saying horrible things. but my argument as a fellow muslim is that christianity had such expressions in the past but it had changed. but islam can change as well. >> you grew up in turkey, which is a secular country, you grew up as a believing muslim, but liberal. what was your experience of

growing up with regard to this issue? did you watch extremism grow? >> while i was growing up, i saw signs of totalitarianism in islam, which disturbed me. in my book, i explain how i found the book in my grandfather's library at the age of 9 that had beautiful quotes from the koran. if your churn do not start to pray by the age of 10, then beat them up. at the age of 9, when i a read that, i got a little worried a and i had a question in my mind, i said, will it be a good thing if i prayed because i wanted to avoid a slap many any face. >> if the only reason you're praying is to avoid getting slapped. and would it be much better if i prayed generally to worship god. a and that's a question that's very ref lent for muslim societies for today. >> a lot of things that people think of as part of islam are actually not in the book.

>> there's no stoning in the koran. the idea that you should excuse someone for -- does not exist in the koran. the idea that women are not smart enough to advise men, that's not in the koran. a lot of troubling issues that we find in the muslim world do not come from the core of the religion, which is the scripture, they come from historical interations and they sometimes reflect just medieval middle eastern culture which makes it easy to make a case for reform. >> most people will think of it as a central part of islam, women in black veils, head to toe, the line in the koran as i understand it simply says women should dress modestly, comma as should men. >> when you look at the koran, yes, women should dress modestly. and some medieval scholars describe this modesty that

nothing should be visible exempt their eyes. we are creating this big gap between the modern world and evolving modern world and some traditions and i think that also you notice something very interesting when you went to mec mecca, where you did the hajj actually, what's called the offseason hajj, and you noticed something about the difference between being in the heart of mecca, following the rules that have been in place since the seventh century, and saudi arabia today. >> very interesting. indeed, when i went there, i did my prayers and the rituals. what i noticed was that around the kaaba, there is no segregation. men and women are together. there is no physical barrier between a man and a woman in the very holy shrine of islam. >> the kaaba is the holiest shrine. >> the holy shrine in the city of mecca, the birth place of

islam. you leave the kaaba and go to burger king or starbucks which is next to the shrine, you have to be separated. men and women go two different ways because the saudi kingdom physically separates men and women in every public space thinking that that's the pious thing to do except in kaaba. if you want to talk to a lady, this is the only place you can do this is the kaaba. >> what do you say when people say, fine, christianity was intolerant 500 years ago. right now we're dealing with islam is going through a very intolerant phase and it is, therefore, the problem? >> i would agree with that, unfortunately. not all of islam. we have islamic groups movements that are really intolerant and sometimes violent. my argument -- i'm not someone who says there's no problem with the muslim world. i accept that there are big problems, especially from a liberal point of view, but i think they can be changed and

reformed as catholicism has changed immensely over the centuries and many others changes. >> how do you do that? is there something the west can to, that america can do or is this an internal debate within islam? >> this is essentially an internal debate within islam. but in my book i argued the west can help indirectly first by supporting principles of democracy and not supporting militant or autocratic regimes in the middle east like it happened for a long time. secondly, support the market economy because one thing that transformed minds is the economy. in turkey, for example, one of the reasons turkey is a successful country, democracy, with some flaws, you know, that we are discussing these days, turkey has a market economy in the middle class which made people more rational, more pragmatic about their attitude to world and also in business matters -- in religious matter, as well. in the arab world you have sometimes oil money, which is a curse as you also wonderfully

explained in your book, so we need to have education and west can help in that regard. we need to have cultural exchanges. these are all very helpful, but violent confrontations do not help like occupy iing a country to liberate it, it doesn't help that much. >> pleasure to have you on. >> pleasure to be on the show. thank you. up next, a special quiz that will change how you think about the record, really. right back. ew york is open. open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com. [knock] no one was at home, but on the kitchen table

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now for our question of the week, and i've got three questions for you this time, all from a non-profit called the gap minder foundation. here is the first one. what is the average life expectancy in the world today? "a," 70 years, "b," 60 years, or "c," 50 years. hold on for the answer. here is the second question. what percentage of adults in the world today are literate, that is, how many can read and write? "a," 80%, "b," 60%, "c," 40%. again hold off for the answer. here is the final question. what percent annual of the world's 1-year-old children are vaccinated against measles?

"a," 20%, "b," 50%, "c," 80%. now for the answers. the world's average life expectancy is not 50, not 60. 70 years. what percent of the adults in the world are literate, not 40%, not 60% but 80% and if you are spotting a trend, yes, 80% of the world's 1-year-olds are vaccinated against measles. the questions all come from the gap minder foundation started by swedish professor hans rosling. he runs a series of ignorance tests. basically his point is that people understand the world by generalizing personal experiences, and so they often miss major trends. we might think the world is doing badly because of the perceptions we once had, but in reality, things are much better than we imagine. go to cnn.com/fareed to try all ten questions. according to the gap minder survey, most americans got between one and four of the ten answers correct. with only three possible answers to each question, you'd likely do better if you picked at random. try it out. my book of the week is

"reimagining india: unlocking the potential of asia's next superpower." it's a collection of essays compiled by the consulting firm mckenzie. one of the essays in there is mine and there are others, as well. if you want a sense of the challenges india faces and how they can overcome them it's a comprehensive book and a very good read. and now a programming note. in just a moment i have a special report for you on a very important topic, guns. the debate over guns in america is somewhat deadlocked, so i thought i'd look to the rest of the world for perspective. for example, we often hear that violent video games are a factor in gun violence. well, we went to japan. they love violent video games, and they had four gun deaths, just four in the entire year 2010. or consider australia, in the years since they passed a gun control law in 1996, gun suicides fell by 65%.

gun homicides fell by 59%. we also go to colombia and switzerland for lessons. it's a fascinating documentary. four continents, four very valuable insights for the united states. stay tuned for the special report. welcome to a gps special. "global lessons on guns." i'm fareed zakaria. on december 14th, 2012, a mass shooting at an elementary school in newtown, connecticut, shocked the country. the horrific tragedy jolted the nation's conscience. yet as awful and traumatic as newtown was, that gruesome day in december was not an anomaly. it was part of an american trend. 26 people were killed at sandy hook that day, but every day in 2010, the most recent year of complete data, an average of 86 people werll