Education systems are much diversified all over the world because of the great differences in cultures and customs of various countries. This way, when bringing changes to any education system, it is important to mention all possible benefits and deficiencies of people, as some of them may be ready to try something new or reject it with all the attendants. Perhaps, the factor of difficult acceptance may be the key aspect of durability and little changeability of education systems in different countries (“Understanding the American Education System”, 2016). Considering this, the paper is to compare education systems at the USA and Saudi Arabia in order to enlighten and explain the unlikeness of cultures and the dependence of values to be shown between these two lands.
Being well educated with the differences between the free and independent states of the U.S and the strict nation of Saudi Arabia, one becomes puzzled when comparing them. The things are different if viewing the education from the inside. Depending on ethic laws, both basic and high school education should be open to all children and free to the representatives of various races and age groups (Corsi-Bunker, n.d.). Living in the world of changes, one should be aware of any innovations to come. This way, it is important to go in foot with time: if earlier the achievement of knowledge considered being of average importance, nowadays it is one of the major component of becoming a well-respected citizen of a country.
Positioning on the Nature of the Problem
Promoting Islamic religion, citizens of Saudi Arabia follow the life principles of its legal and constitution framework in order not to fall under any restrictions of enforcement (“Saudi Arabia’s education system in the spotlight again”, 2014). Nowadays the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is under rapid urbanization and industrial development, so the question of good education is out of a dispute (“Saudi Arabia’s education system in the spotlight again”, 2014). It is segregated by sex and is divided into three systems: Islamic education for boys, and separate education for boys and girls (Burgess, 2014). Regardless of such a partition, children follow the same curriculum at their education facilities.
This way, Saudis pay great attention towards the preservation of religious customs. Boys are educated for becoming the members of the religious clergy Ulema, which are administered by different universities for providing proper knowledge and determining those children of great perspectives for proposing assistance to them in their beginnings (Bacsich, 2003). 24 universities, overwatched by the government, specialize in pharmacy, social sciences, humanities, engineering and medicine take from four to six years to complete with degrees (Bacsich, 2003).
In contrast to the wide range of education facilities in urbanized areas, there are few opportunities for the representatives of rural citizens. Alas, it is difficult to find a proper education and place of studying for a child, who has its roots in a poorly developed town due to the complexity of the education program. It is focused on the industrial development and cannot be matched to the demands for providing the average elaboration. This way, children should focus all their attention on subjects in order not to fail the studying process.
Education System in the USA
Such an education situation in Saudi Arabia is similar to the one the USA provides. It pays great attention to the studying according to K-12 education terms, referring both primary and secondary schools for achieving credits or tests (Mead, 2015), which are focused on the students` abilities, so may be applied for everyone for the determination of his interests and professional qualities. Early childhood education forms individualities with their aspirations and desires, which should become the solid foundation for the prosperous future of the country.
The USA practices personalized learning for children, based on their needs and peculiarities of development, doing so, they promote the manner of specific attitude to everyone, which results in great achievements in the studying process (Corsi-Bunker, n.d.). Emphasizing the necessity of specific approach to every child, each American state tries to engage representatives with different needs to the mutual learning.
Despite all the improvements, brought to the education systems of the USA and Saudi Arabia, there are still some problems to face. As it was mentioned above, there are issues, concerning the education of representatives of towns and villages. The governments of both countries, being dependent on the necessity of optimizing the development process of the countries, pay great attention to the education of perspective students, ignoring any potential, which is hidden in small towns, achieved in the school of average popularity.
When it comes to the discussion of the necessity of providing equal education opportunities to all citizens, there is a small gap, which lies in the laws – the education is free and available to each child, but not every parent is able to provide his child with the ability to go to school because of many reasons. For example, in remote parts of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia some people live distantly from others due to their beliefs or different circumstances. There are education facilities, which are situated too far for a child to go every day, and the transport cannot be provided there (Jansson, 2016). In such situations, the parents are prone to try home schooling with their children – they share their own knowledge in order to improve the whole contexts.
Social Welfare in the USA
There are laws for the regulation of overall education in the USA. In 2002, George W. Bush applied the law of No Child Left Behind, which resulted in great improvements (Strauss, 2015). The new start for all students has been given along with providing great perspectives of being honored for the life paths chosen after going through various studying programs (“President Bush Discusses No Child Left Behind”, 2009). Nevertheless, national education legislation is rather complex due to the diversity of factors to be taken into account.
Depending on the poor funding, this law cannot operate completely, but even the execution of its parts gives significant improvements to the education system of the U.S., eg. building schools in towns and communities, providing international student exchange programs (pupils of developing countries are welcomed to achieve American experience as well as Americans) and expanding the sphere of governmental influence concerning education throughout different states for raising the amount of those, who want to get the proper basic education (Jansson, 2016).
Social Welfare in Saudi Arabia
In Saudi Arabia, however, the situation is rather difficult and not so developed, as it is in the USA. Considering the rapid industrial development and the urbanization, the admirers of the old order become the anchorites, lining remotely at places of the average development. Counting on numen, they decide to live accordingly to their religious laws. The folks are little known for trusting the government, so they are left without proper education (Burgess, 2014). Nevertheless, schools are built in order to cover the whole kingdom with the education facilities, hoping to meet the understanding from the side of all citizens.
Human rights are justice towards the properness of any choice taken is honored in both countries even though the great attention in Saudi Arabia is still paid to the necessity of belonging to the Islamic religion with the promotion of its ideals. The USA is not strong in the promotion of the variety of its beliefs ( “Understanding the American Education System”, 2016), so being able to develop the religion through the nation may result in strong abidance by traditions with further mentioning the necessities of improvements of technical and cultural achievements.
Conclusion
Nowadays the USA remains the well-developed country with its proper addressing the problem of rural education. The government provides the remote education by computer as well as the one of home learning. Being able to achieve the basic knowledge from parents, children become the complete members of the society, having the right and ability to change it to better. However, in home schooling it is important that the parents give the wide education to their children; that they cover the needed topics and subject. Moreover, homeschooling should not be an exclusion from society. It is important that the parents include their children in social activities where they can communicate with children their own age and grasp the basic skills of communication.
Saudi Arabia takes the experience from different counties, including the U.S. with strengthening the impact, carried by tradition to the studying process of each and every child. The principles of equality should be provided to the members of different communities and beliefs in Saudi Arabia in order to improve the education policy in the country. The programs of remote education or the students exchange have to become the widespread ones for achieving benefits in the form of improved statistics of educated population. Having such guidelines from well-developed independent countries, the kingdom is perspective in all its beginnings.
References
Bacsich, P. (2003). Saudi Arabia - Researching Virtual Initiatives in Education. [online] Virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu. Available at: http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Saudi_Arabia [Accessed 1 Jan. 2017].
Burgess, J. (2014). “What is life like for poor people in Saudi Arabia?” Quora. Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/What-is-life-like-for-poor-people-in-Saudi-Arabia
Corsi-Bunker, A. (n.d.). “Guide to the Education System in the United States”. University of Minnesota: International Student & Scholar Services. Retrieved from https://isss.umn.edu/publications/USEducation/2.pdf
Jansson, B.S. (2016). Social Welfare Policy and Advocacy. SAGE Publications, Inc.
Mead, S. (2015). “Building a Solid Foundation”. U.S. News. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/2015/04/09/what-early-childhood-education-programs-can-teach-k-12-schools
“President Bush Discusses No Child Left Behind”. (2009). The White House, President George W. Bush. Retrieved from https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2009/01/20090108-2.html
“Saudi Arabia’s education system in the spotlight again”. (2014). Al Arabiya English. Retrieved from http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2014/02/09/Saudi-Arabia-s-education-system-in-the-spotlight-again.html
Strauss, V. (2015). “Why it’s worth re-reading George W. Bush’s 2002 No Child Left Behind speech”. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/12/09/why-its-worth-re-reading-george-w-bushs-2002-no-child-left-behind-speech/?utm_term=.9770f6274d40
“Understanding the American Education System”. (2016). Study in the USA. Retrieved from https://www.studyusa.com/en/a/58/understanding-the-american-education-system
