Perhaps the most compelling is Asia's traditional emphasis on education - parents lining up all night to get their kids into good schools, sending them to Ivy League universities, even bribing teachers to give junior top marks. As we move into the next millennium, the basic emphasis on schooling will not change. The revolution will begin in the region's international and private schools, eventually trickling down to state institutions. To help children catch up with foreign geeks, schools across the region are starting with the very young. Many Hong Kong primary schools already teach basic computer skills and permit children to surf the Internet for research projects.
Japan expects all primary classes to use computers in three years' time.
And authorities there plan to provide Internet connections free to schools for five years. Laptops and palmtops will become de rigeur. By no accident is the new Apple iBook portable designed to be tossed in a rucksack. The future student will keep relevant textbook chapters on his or her education appliance. Just think, kids, no more backstrain from lugging those heavy books to and fro.