Comparison/Contrast essay 'Education system (draft 1)'
<The education system of the United Arab Emirates different from Korea>
Humans are said to be animals that study until death. Most people spend a lot of time at school to spend the future well. There is something in common under the name of education, but each country also has a unique education system. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a country that Korean can feel unfamiliar geographically far from Korea. Thus, there are many similarities and differences between them.
As for the first South Korea and the UAE are same year the number of elementary education, but education starting age is different. South Korea and the UAE are elementary school six years and both middle and high school for three years. However, People enter elementary school at the age of 8, middle school at 14, and high school at 17 in South Korea. On the other hand, people in the UAE go to elementary school at 6, middle school at 12, and high school at 15.
The education until middle school is compulsory in both countries. However, the two countries have differences in tuition. The free education has been from elementary school to middle school, and recently started high schools in 2021. Most of them are made up of taxes from the people. The UAE provides government support for all education, even universities and overseas studies. The UAE has accumulated enormous wealth from oil exports and invests a lot of its resources in education.
The college entrance rate of South Korea and the UAE is higher than that of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. According to the 2015 OECD education index, the university entrance rate of OECD countries is 41% (매일경제). Whereas, Korea has consistently topped the university entrance rate 79.4% of students enter university in 2020. The UAE students, 95% of women and 80% of men, go to college or choose to study abroad.
There is also a difference in the curriculum. Common subjects in Korea include Korean, mathematics, English, society, science, and Korean history. The essential subjects are Islamic education, sociology, and Arabic education for its citizens in the curriculum of the UAE permitted by their official education department. Peculiarly, only Muslim students can enter the Islamic department of the university in the United Arab Emirates. On the other hand, in Korea, you can freely enter the Department of Religion regardless of religion.
To sum up, Korea, which values college entrance exams, and the United Arab Emirates, a religion-based culture, were compared. The two countries show similarities and differences in the educational system because various factors such as culture and lifestyle are similar or different from each other. Also, More commonalities and some differences than expected about the education system will help us understand each other.
<Reference>
“고3 수험생 줄자…대학진학률 79.4% 최고”. 매일경제. https://www.mk.co.kr/. 2021. Web. 15, Nov, 2021. <https://www.mk.co.kr/news/society/view/2021/01/46266/>
“UAE 교육”. 주아랍에미레이트대사관. https://overseas.mofa.go.kr/ae-ko/index.do. 2017. Web. 15, Nov, 2021.