Cultural variations are the various views, attitudes, cultures, actions, and expressions that are considered distinctive to the arms of the particular community, race or national origin. Cultural differences always make a clash between other individuals’ ideas, and it is very important to get to know about the fellow workers’ culture and their various attitudes and beliefs. Some examples of cultural differences, as they connect to the offices and universities, in universities some students are brighter than other students, also some students come from different countries or different parts of the country large cities or small cities which they hold different cultural values and different attitudes and also in workplaces there are younger and older people and also people who have qualifications than others which came from other countries. Employees and students are known to have more resemblances than dissimilarities, but sometimes those disagreements will overweigh the similarities. It is very important to understand other’s cultural backgrounds to build up a friendship and work with unity. (Guide and A-Z, 2020)
So in my essay which I have to compare and contrast cultural differences between two other countries I would like to contrast Sri Lankan culture with UK culture and how their culture impacts their education and their work. Both of these cultures are a bit similar because Sri Lanka was a colony that was under British for a long time. Therefore these two cultures show many similarities because Britain contributed so much for Sri Lankan education.
Sri Lankan schools are divided into two-sector, government schools, and private sector schools. State schools offer free education until the university level, since 1945 due to the act opposed by prevailed education minister C.W.W Kannangara, and the government provides free uniforms and textbooks for everyone. Sri Lankan education is compulsory for students from five to 16 years of age (The Educational System of Sri Lanka, 2020) Sri Lankan education is divided into five main parts such as primary, junior secondary, senior secondary, collegiate and tertiary. Sri Lankan education always tries to imitate its culture and wonders to students through various subjects such as history, Sinhala and Buddhism. Secondly, Sri Lanka holds three main assessments, such as scholarship exam at grade five, G.C.E. O/L at year eleven and G.C.E A/L at year thirteen. After completing G.C.E O/L’s students get a chance to choose their wishing career and select the subject out four main streams, mathematics, science, accounting and information and technology, and arts.
The UK is also one of those countries which provide free education for students. Generally, UK education is divided into four main parts primary education, secondary education, further education, and higher education, and students are assessed at the end of every key stage. UK education is compulsory for students until the age of sixteen. Generally, many people say that UK education is filled with fun and enjoyment. As journalists say that UK education is always trying to reduce the stress of students and get the maximum benefits of them with extra-curricular activities.
The UK is in the top 5 countries which provides the best education according to studentsvoice.com. Besides, the UK updates its syllabuses but in Sri Lanka, during the past recent years, there were many complaints about Sri Lankan education because of its outdated lessons. The lifestyle of a UK student makes a big difference with the lifestyle of a Sri Lankan student, in during primary education students doesn’t have the battle to pass exams and during secondary schools, students don’t stress so much but in Sri Lanka with the start of the secondary school teachers stress students with many home works due to the size of the syllabus, therefore students don’t get time to play and enjoy with others because since small days they try to fight to overcome other with good grades because every year exams are getting extremely harder and harder but those who get through these exams have good opportunities in the job market, but overall by considering various aspects such as child’s mentality, I feel that UK education culture is better than Sri Lankan because their syllabuses are created by considering thought and ability of a student.
Generally in Sri Lanka, a person can work up to nine hours with meal breaks and working hours should not exceed 48 hours a week this applies to males and females both, and companies can’t recruit employees who are under eighteen years legally. These rules and practices are practiced similarly in the UK. The age of retiring in Sri Lanka is sixty for men and for women it is fifty-five but in the private sector the retirement age of men is fifty-five and retirement of female working under Private Sector Company is fifty and for a government worker, they offer a pension after the retirement and for private-sector workers they offer an EPF. In the UK the retirement age is different in UK workers, they can work up to age sixty-five but to get a pension the employee should have to fulfill some qualifications
When contrasting both countries’ cultures I met some similarities and many differences, mainly in the field of education but it’s hard to mention what culture is the best because both of them have different tastes. But according to my perspectives, I would like to mention that the UK educational system is better than the Sri Lankan educational system, but Sri Lankan working Culture is better for me than the UK working system.
