Similarities and differences in education systems: America versus Australia

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Basic Facts:

2000 Census (http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school.html)

America:

million in public schools, 51% male

88, 400 public;

Federal Budget: $127 billion

Primary Responsibility: States

Graduate with a Bachelor's, 4-year college degree: 24.4%

Average Class Size - Age 13: 18.3, Age 9

Australia:

2002 Census (http://cms.curriculum.edu.au/anr2002/pdfs/2002appendix1_stats.pdf)

1,932,832; 993, 221 male

6,969 governmental; 2, 663 non-governmental

Federal Budget: $33 billion

Primary Responsibility: States and Territories

Teachers: 260,0000

Graduate Secondary School: 1.7 million (http://www.dfat.gov.au/aib/education.html)

Graduate with a Bachelor's or equal: 900,000

Regulatory Education

While the differences between the United States education system and that of Australia are abundant, the most obvious difference in how students are taught is the standard timeframe. Because of the hemispheric separation, Australian students of all ages attend school with the first semester beginning in February and the second in July; by contrast, American students begin an academic year in September, resume it in January, and conclude it in June, before the second term in Australia has even begun. Yet, time frames are just the tip of the iceberg; teaching strategies, organizational differences, and education expectations greatly alter the models of systems used in both locales.

In the United States, children are required to be enrolled in school from the ages of six to sixteen, but in many states, the entrance age is far younger. The highly decentralized system allows for individual states to determine their own requirements for education so long as they comply with the newly introduced No Child Left Behind testing act, and some states require that children begin school with Kindergarten - typically at five years of age and operated in half and full day formats - while others only start with First Grade. In 2000, only 63% of students in the United States were enrolled in full-day kindergarten programs in both public and private systems, compared with 25% in 1979. 12 states require half-day kindergarten, 11 require none whatsoever, and the rest require some form of "full-day" kindergarten that extends between four and six hours each day during the child's fifth year of age, teaching the standard education basics of letters, basic arithmetic, spatial skills, and social relations necessary to garner the education premises of the First Grade. Others still offer universal pre-kindergarten, pioneered by Georgia. 5 states - Maine, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Florida - require some form of Pre-Kindergarten for all students. 85% of American students attend public school, the rest go through either parochial or private systems. By the end of high school, most students have met the requirements to graduate, and 80.4% of Americans retain high school diplomas. 24.4% continued on to a four-year college from which they attained a bachelor's degree or pursued education higher than that.