Kyohei Baito
2B Writing
October 20, 2010
Educational System compare/contrast paragraph
Similarities and Differences between Japanese and Saudi Arabian Educational Systems
Both Japan and Saudi Arabia are in Asia, but there are differences and similarities between their educational systems. For instance, regarding the time spent in school, they share two similarities. The first similarity is the length of the time that students are required to attend school before they enter a university. Japanese students need to attend school for twelve years. Similarly, Saudi Arabian students also attend for the same number of years before entering a university. The next similarity is how these twelve years are divided. Both Japanese and Saudi Arabian students attend elementary school for six years, junior high school for three years, and high school for three years. In addition, there are also two differences between their educational systems. First, both of these countries require that their students go to school five days per week, but the length of time that students stay at school per day is different. Japanese students stay at school for about nine hours per day, but the exact time is a little different for each school. On the other hand, Saudi Arabian students stay at school for eight hours per day, and it is the same for all schools. Next, the length of vacation is very different between the two countries. In Japan, there is one month and one week of summer vacation, about two weeks of winter vacation, and about two weeks of spring vacation from school. However, in Saudi Arabia, there are three and a half months of summer vacation, ten days of religious days, and ten days of spring break. In summary, there are two similarities and two differences in regard to the time spent in school between Japan and Saudi Arabia, with the similarities being the division of years and the differences being the length of the school day and vacation period.
