My daughters are very privileged to study at two truly wonderful institutions. The younger one will study at ISM or International School of Manila. We visited ISM last week and came away very impressed. The school that educates almost 2000 students from kindergarten till Grade 12 is housed in a massive complex that contains an impressive auditorium, an Olympic size pool, a scuba diving pool, couple of gymnasiums and also an oval track field. My daughters have studied all over the world in some great schools but this school is on a different scale altogether. With the kind of stimuli the kids are given, one can only assume that each child reaches his or her full potential. As children move into middle and high school they do tend to get side tracked due to social relationships that get very complicated in the growing years. However, gorgeous play grounds, colourful classrooms and loving teachers coupled with a high academic standard, a truly diverse set of kids, what else can one ask for?

My older daughter will join Columbia University in the fall of 2010. All my sadness at her impending flight from the family nest melted away when I visited the US universities two summers ago. Each college was better than the other, and getting an education in one of them, just like a dream. In the Columbia Campus located as it is at the top end of Manhattan, you get the benefit of both worlds. Retreat into campus life if you wish or jump right into the hustle and bustle of a big city at any minute. Broadway leading upto Columbia on one side is home to some excellent restaurants that would not pinch the budget of a student. Many of the professors choose to live in that neighbourhood for easy access to college. The campus itself is replete with statues, beautiful architecture and many words of wisdom, all very properly in Latin. The selection process is very rigorous, ensuring a very high level of intellectual stimulus.

With the kind of input that goes into educating a child from the first world one would think that the finished product is unmatchable. Yet we have witnessed over the past many years that Indians educated in India have done extremely well and head many of the MNCs. When I think back to my school days, neither the infrastructure nor the academics were anywhere close to what we see with our kids. And yet those days were so lovely, carefree and fun!