Asia literacy on Aussie agenda

The question is put to Ridout about the risk of a perception of a "beggar thy neighbour" attitude in its singular utilitarian motive. The image of Australia as "deputy sheriff" to the US wouldn't help, Ridout agrees, but essentially business is a two-way relationship.

The utilitarian approach doesn't take into account postcolonial history, as Paul Kiem, president of the History Teachers Association of Australia, teaches in his western Sydney school in Auburn, the most multicultural suburb in all of Australia.

So, too, does it fall short of the expectations of Ian Dalton, executive director of the Australian Parents Council.

Together, Kiem and Dalton suggest that the assumption that the motive of parents on what's best for their children's education is always driven by job prospects may be misguided.

"Parents are open to the study of Asia if they see it as being integral to the development of the whole person," says Dalton. A good neighbour being one.

The reality, for Ken Olah, relieving director curriculum, in the New South Wales Department of Education and Training, is that "any suggestion that the Asian region needs a small, Western, colonial country more than Australia needs close relationships with its Asian neighbours is ridiculous".

Studies of Asia have to take account of changed and changing aspirations among the peoples - and increasingly assertive nations - of emerged and emerging Asia.

Asia needs to be framed beyond threats and opportunities, and studied for intellectual enrichment.

They go beyond the accommodating within a crowded curriculum the study of languages, culture, literature and the arts, and appreciation of food, dance, music and song, and nuances of how business people exchange business cards.

In the end, by Olah's reckoning, it is "not just a head thing, it's a heart thing".

Kirby is in no doubt that a "sense of real urgency" emerged from the summit.

She is confident Australian education has gone beyond the three "p"s in studies of Asia - of poverty, padi fields and pandas - and is encouraged that the summit brought to the table business and youth, key stakeholder groups required to build demand for Asia literacy.

Youth represented at the summit made clear they were ready to mobilise young Australians to demand Asia skills and to connect at people-to-people level with their peers in Asia.