Not long ago I went to see my son play in a tennis match. He had a pulled muscle and lost (to a guy he had always beaten), but only just. No problem.

Whilst I was watching, I began to think. There he was – just a notch below professional level. How did he get SO good?

Was it perseverance? That’s part of the story. Was it hard work? That’s another part. Was it or natural ability? Yep, that one too.

What else? Read more…

Mathew works for a US firm, but does his online tutoring services while seated at a computer in the southern Indian city of Cochin. Thanks to a high-speed Internet link, and software that lets him sketch chemical formulas onto a computer screen, Mathew can give 16-year-old Gaurav one-on-one online tutoring services from 8,000 miles and half a day away.

”I was skeptical at first,” said Gaurav’s mother, Nirmal, a developmental educator. ”But I decided to give it a shot, and it works beautifully.”

India has hundreds of thousands of science and math scholars, willing to work cheaply. Giant firms like Microsoft Corp., IBM Corp., and Intel Corp. farm out demanding technical tasks to Indian engineers and set up their own offices in cities like India’s high-tech haven of Bangalore. Read more…