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Education Is Vital To Our Success By- Melvin Durai Melvin Durai is an Indiana-based writer and humorist. Born in Tamil Nadu, India, he grew up in Zambia and moved to the U.S. in the early 1980s. In 1995, while working as a reporter for a daily newspaper in Chambersburg, Pa., he began writing a regular humor column. His weekly column now appears in several newspapers and on a number of Web sites. He also writes a twice-monthly column on Indian and Indian-American issues. He is a diehard fan of the National Football League and also likes to run, lift weights and play soccer, tennis and pool. An award-winning feature writer and aspiring novelist, he plans to publish a collection of his best columns. You can write to him at comments@melvindurai.com To read his older columns, go to http://www.melvindurai.com

At times, I think I've had too much education. I've sat in so many classrooms and listened to so many lectures and wished so many times that I could turn one of my textbooks into a nice, soft pillow.

I'm completing my third master's degree and have taken more than 80 college courses in areas as diverse as accounting, science and writing. If you asked me what I've learned in those courses, I'd peer through my glasses like an intellectual and give you a clear and concise answer: "I don't remember."

Actually, I did learn some important lessons. For example, in an oral communication course, I learned that public speaking is one of the best ways to lose a lot of sweat. In chemistry, I learned that it's not a good idea to snore in class (You might wake up all your classmates). And in painting studio, I learned that you don't have to be an accomplished artist to create something that nobody understands.

A lot of the courses I've taken have had little impact on my life. I've never had to figure out the standard deviation of something. I've never impressed anyone with my knowledge of Shakespeare. And to this day, nobody in my neighborhood has asked me to identify a frog's reproductive organs.

But I have taken many useful courses, such as creative writing, news writing and media ethics (Yes, believe it or not, some members of the media do have ethics). And as a whole, education has had a big impact on my life.

It's easy for people like me who've been privileged to gain a good education to joke about or underestimate its importance. Truth be told, education has been vital to our success, to our ability to earn a good living. Without it, we'd probably be poor -- and we'd be struggling to pay for life's necessities, such as food, shelter and Viagra.

Without an education, we wouldn't be able to read or write. If someone gave us a pencil, we'd probably use it to pick our teeth or prod our children away from our stash of chocolate. If someone gave us a copy of Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children," we'd probably use it to kill midnight's cockroaches.

Without an education, we wouldn't know the rules of language, even spoken language. Instead of asking, "May I train your dog, Mr. Ram?" we might find ourselves asking, "May I ram your train, Mr. Dog?"

Without an education, we wouldn't be able to add, subtract and multiply. If we happen to have 10 children and only six have returned home from school, we wouldn't know how many to search for. It's no wonder so many children are missing.

Yes, education is rather important, a first-class ticket out of poverty. That's why I recently decided to support Asha, a group that raises money in America and other countries to help educate underprivileged children in India, perhaps preventing a few of them from growing handlebar mustaches, hiding in the forest and kidnapping movie stars.

I know how lucky I am to be educated. I also know how little money it takes, in American currency, to make a difference in the life of an Indian child. For $10, you can buy a few cups of java in America, whereas in India you can learn how to program Java. Well, almost.

Founded in California in 1991, Asha has more than 300 active volunteers in 35 chapters worldwide, almost as many chapters as you'd find in a Vikram Seth novel. In 1999 alone, Asha chapters raised $700,000 and distributed almost $510,000 to more than 100 projects in India.

If every Indian in America gave a few dollars a month to a group like Asha, it would make a huge difference in our homeland. I'd ask you to send me a few dollars, too, but I can't guarantee that I'd put it to such good use.

(For more information on ASHA, go to their website: http://ashanet.org or write to: Asha for Education, P.O. Box 322, New York, NY 10040-0322.)

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