Last fall, we went on a lengthy vacation to spend time with my family in India. We spent months there staying with family, interacting with children of my nieces and nephews, as well as kids from slums in special programs started by local non-governmental organizations.

I share these observations to enrich the dialogue now under way as I envision the class of 2020. While the educational systems are markedly different, there are opportunities to learn from the experiences of each.

The importance of education has taken a giant leap in the public's mind in India. Private schools and colleges have sprung up everywhere to fill the new need. Private schools are run like a business, and they charge hefty fees.

Children in grades K-12 easily can be spotted everywhere, as they all wear uniforms.

They were eager to interact with us, even in remote villages. The children start first grade at age 5, and the state requires them to learn three languages,

including English. The curriculum emphasizes language, world geography, history and civics, mathematics and science. (Learning multiplication tables starts in first grade.)

By the fifth grade, they are computer-literate and write simple scripts using Java and Pearl. They spend half of Saturday in school.

In the seventh grade, they start training for college. There is a strong push to enter the elite schools in India, where admission is based strictly on the results of an entrance exam. This preparation lasts three years and is all outside their normal school curriculum.

I saw kids getting up at 4:30 a.m. to attend classes for three hours before they start their regular classes. By 10th grade, they have strong grounding in languages, sciences including ecology, mathematics, world geography.

Parents from all strata of society embrace the importance of education and make great sacrifices. For example, I found taxi drivers who are paid $40 to $70 a month sending their children to private schools and beaming with pride at their accomplishments.

The family supports these values. An 80-year-old grandmother living in a three-genation household instructed her grandson while she cooked dinner for the entire family. She grilled him on what he learned that day at school, checked his homework and tested him before every quiz.

I saw 40 or 50 slum kids (all younger than 10) excited about learning three hours every week in a park setting. When I asked them what they wanted to be, in a chorus they proclaimed "Doctors!" What I saw was ambition to achieve and a willingness to work hard for it.

The intensity and commitment to education by the society as a whole is a big paradigm shift since I was a student. The state now provides free meals to all students, either directly or contracted through a non-profit organizations. One group feeds more then 1.5 millions mouths every day.

Athletics takes a very low profile in schools. There are no intercollegiate athletic programs. The children participate in sports outdoors or through private local clubs. (The boys' game of choice is cricket.)

I saw strong recruitment efforts by universities from Australia, Germany, England and France for researchers and students to do post-graduate work.

In the end, the parents were willing to support education of their children through college by vigorous support emotionally and financially at great cost to themselves. It has lifted the spirit of the community. That titanic shift in social attitudes should be a wake-up call for us here in view of our current experience of providing lip service to our children's education.

Megha Shyam has been a resident of Corvallis for nearly 30 years. Two of his children attended local schools during the 1980s.