Education in Saudi Arabia and the United States of America Essay

teaching continues to be the priority of all nations around the world. Countries devote vast resources to ensure equal opportunity to study for their people. In return, the educated segment of the population frames the wealth of these nations and will more alikely meet the social and stinting demands of the country. The commandal systems atomic number 18 continuously developed to meet not just the local but similarly the global demands and challenges. It is more appropriate to look at the disparity on the tuition sector of star country to another in order to determine what needs to be improved and developed in ones rearingal system.This paper aims to provide an assessment on the similarities and differences of tuition in twain countries, Saudi-Arabian Arabia and the United States of America (USA). The development in Saudi Arabia and the USA argon similar in terms of government spending on direction, freedom to choose the educate where they will attend to, and education for people with special needs, while differ in terms of attitude towards education, literacy rate, religion in school, gender roles, grading scales, and stages of education. Both the Saudi Arabia and USA government spend immense resources on the education sector.The Saudi Arabia governments increased awareness on the importance of education to its people paved delegacy to its provision of bountiful support to education. Like the USA government, the Saudi Arabia government finance general education for most(prenominal) boys and girls. It also provides free post- lower-ranking education and offers financial help to students. At cases, meals, books, and transportation are subsidized. In the same way, the USA government offers free general and post-secondary education for all financed by the government. In both countries, students are also allowed to choose what school they will attend to.They have the options to enroll in public, private, or home school. Most of the parents prefer to send their children in public school practically because they are much(prenominal) free from burden. There were also those who prefer private schools thinking that these schools might provide better, quality education to their children especially for those seeking a competitive edge in college admission. A few considers home study best for their children for reasons that they can effectively tailor a curriculum that would best suit their childrens academician strengths and weaknesses, especially those with disabilities.Aside from home schooling, those with disabilities may be sent to schools which will cater to their needs like schools for the blind, desensitise, physically and mentally handicapped, among others (Education, 2005). The Saudi Arabia and USA governments have put on these schools to encourage individuals to their full likely and share social and emotional experiences with their peers having the same conditions as themselves. The curricula in the special classes prone over over to the students were tailored scenery to their needs.For instance, the educational programs given to the blind and deaf individuals were different. For sure, blind students were thought of using Braille while deaf students do not. One variation the Saudi Arabia and the USA government have is the attitude towards education. In the USA, school attendance is mandatory and nearly universal at primary and secondary levels. School districts meet to question school curricula, funding, teaching, and other policies to further improve the education in the state. On the other hand, in Saudi Arabia, the government does not impose mandatory attendance in school.Although, it is encouraged that the free primary and secondary education are availed since education is given free and open to every citizen. The literacy rate for the two countries presented, are varied. The USA literacy rate is estimated at 99% for both men and women, whereas, literacy rate in Saudi Arabia is estim ated at only 84. 7% for men and 70. 8% for women (Literacy, 2007). The Saudi Arabia government recognizes the importance of literacy in propelling the deliverance hence, one of its objectives for the education sector is to eradicate illiteracy especially among adults and girls through several literacy programs.In the USA, in spite of the high literacy rate, the government is continually implementing programs to further develop the education sector. Religion is the main core of education in Saudi Arabia. The curricula developed conform to the Shariah (Islamic holy law) and the Quran. Men were trained of Islamic education to become members of religious clergy. They provide religious secondary education with focus primarily on Islamic and Arabic studies, although, the curriculum also includes general education. The schools which administer these were Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University and the Islamic University of Medinah (Sedgwick, 2001).On the contrary, education in the USA is not focused on religion but there are some schools which may offer religion subjects that are not quite extensive as religion studies in Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia, education is segregated by sex. Education for boys is different from education for girls. Education is divided into three separately administered systems general education for boys, education for girls and traditional Islamic education for boys (Sedgwick, 2001). However, in the recent years, education for girls was continuously being developed to meet the growing demands of the country.Unlike in the USA, education is offered to both sexes, giving them equal opportunity to study. The educational programs that were developed cater to both sexes. Grading scales were active to gauge the students performance on school. Grading scales in the USA and Saudi Arabia differ. In the USA, marks were given on the scale of A to F. In the criterion-referenced system, the equivalent grades of these to 0 to 100 percentile are as fo llows A=95-100 or 90-100, B=85-95 or 80-90, C=75-85 or 70-80, D=65-75 or 60-70, and F is given to marks below 65 or 60.There is also the norm-referenced system where marks are given as follows A=top 10% of the class, B=next 20% of the class, C=next 30% of the class, D=next 20% of the class, and bottom 20% of the class (Grading systems, n. d). On the contrary, the grading scale in Saudi Arabia was given as follows 5=90-100, 4=80-89, 3=70-79, 2=60-69, and 1=0-59 (Sedgwick, 2001). The stages of education in both countries also vary. Education in Saudi Arabia starts with primary, followed by secondary, and higher education. Primary education is for ages 6 to 12. An intermediate education, which is part of primary education, is carried out for ages 12 to 15.Secondary education is divided into three general, religious, and technical. These are taken by ages 15 to 18. The higher education is also divided into three stages the baccaloreus (bachelors degree-4 years), darajat al majisteer (ma sters degree 2years), and doctoorah (doctorate minimum of 3 years) (Sedgwick, 2001). On the other hand, education in the USA is be of these stages preschool (1 or 2 yrs), elementary/middle/high school (12 yrs), associate, bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees (Structure familiar Information, n. . ).The differences in education in both countries mainly lie on their history, culture, social and economic conditions, whereas, the similarities were bought well-nigh by their desire to provide accessible, quality education free and open to all. Education stimulates the people to present to its country in addressing the increasing local and global demands. This motivates the countries to improve and further develop its educational system.