The Oprah Winfrey Experiment - inspired by the Rev. Jesse Jackson

The scene: Two Chicago schools 35 miles apart

School A:          Harper High School graduates just 40 per cent of its 1,500 students.  At this school 16 percent meet the reading standards, 1.5 percent meet the science standards and just .5 percent meet the math standards.

Schools B:        Neuqua Valley High School in Suburban Naperville, Illinois, a $65 million facility that graduates 99 per cent of its students. At  this school 78 percent of students meet Illinois' reading standards, 76 percent meet the science standards and 77 percent meet the math standards

The experiment:  Students switched classrooms

What happened?

When the Harper students arrived at Neuqua Valley, they were stunned to see what the suburban school offered-an Olympic-size swimming pool, a gym and fitness center, an award-winning music department, a huge computer lab, and a rigorous course curriculum.

When the Neuqua Valley students arrived at Harper, the students from Neuqua Valley were shocked immediately by the difference between Harper and their own school. For starters, students have to enter Harper through a metal detector. They have a pool at Neuqua Valley, but the Harper pool hasn't been filled with water in a decade. The Neuqua Valley students have an award-winning music department, while Harper doesn't have enough instruments for a music class and relies on improvised instruments-like banging on desks.

At Neuqua Valley, students can enroll in more than two dozen advanced placement courses, compared to the two offered at Harper.

"It's so mind-blowing to think that there's such a difference and we're both in the same state, an hour away from each other," one Neuqua Valley student says.

After sitting in on a math class at the suburban school, a Harper student was particularly worried about what her Harper education was actually teaching her. "I was looking at the math problems that they're doing [at Neuqua Valley], and I'm like, 'What language is that?'" she says. "As soon as I get to college, I'm going to be lost."

My Question:  What would happen if we replicated this in Australia.  I for one would prefer school swap to wife swap as a reality TV scenario.