Here come the Indians

I was trying to watch the golf tournament yesterday afternoon on ESPN, but the national spelling bee was being covered and golf was delayed. It was down to the last 4 contestants and hard for me to miss the fact that they all seemed to be from India. Each spoke flawless English, however, and could really spell. Good for them. Each had a complete set of parents there with them and each student got a big hug from them when they were eliminated. Obviously, they were being raised right.
This morning, Tom Friedman who writes for the New York Times had an opinion piece connecting the recent rejection of the EU constitution with the exploding move of young people in India to the top of global competiveness in technology. As he says, the French are trying to preserve a 35 hour work week at a time when highly educated and motivated Indians are willing to work 35 hour days and they don't even expect 6 week vacations. As Friedman says, this is a bad time for France and friends to lose their appetite for hard work - just when India, China and Poland are rediscovering theirs.