In many European countries and Japan, almost all children between 6 and 16 are compelled by law to attend school. In these countries a substantial percentage of children are able to continue their education in secondary or other types of post-primary schools. In many countries of Africa, Latin America, and Asia, however, a large percentage of school-age children are not able to go to school.

In most countries the public school system is controlled and supported directly by the national government. Some countries, such as Great Britain, combine central and local control. Secondary education in many countries is provided in several different types of schools —academic, technical, and vocational. In some countries, students are not free to choose which type to attend, but are admitted to one or another on the basis of tests given at the completion of primary education.

Private colleges and universities are not as common in other countries as in the United States. In the newer nations, there generally are none. Admission into national universities is often based on competitive examinations. The successful applicants frequently have all expenses paid and may even be sent to another country for graduate study at government expense.

Countries ditfer widely in the rate of literacy—the ability to read and write—among the adult population. Levels of literacy range from more than 95 per cent of the adult population in northern, western, and central Europe and Japan to less than 20 per cent in many of the countries of Africa and Asia.

New nations, relatively underdeveloped in technology, look at their schools as important agencies in modernizing their way of life. Often education is believed to hold the key to social and economic progress, and it figures prominently in plans for economic development. The more developed nations also seek constantly to adjust their educational systems to the demands of an increasingly complex and industrial society.

Nations poor or rich, developing or developed, are faced with many educational tasks. Most of the developing nations of Africa and Asia are struggling with several problems: to provide more, and better, schools at all levels; to train enough teachers; to prevent high dropout rates; and to help promote economic growth by changing traditional curriculums that do not meet present-day needs. In order to reduce illiteracy, they need not only to provide education for their young people but to teach their mature populations to read and write.

On the other hand, the more developed nations are faced with such problems as eliminating financial, religious, racial, and other barriers to universal schooling; expanding college (and, in some countries, secondary school) facilities; and meeting the needs of all kinds of persons by offering various types of education.

The United States aids education in many countries of the world through the Agency for International Development, the Peace Corps, and other government agencies; the Carnegie, Rockefeller, Ford, and other foundations; and the international activities of various colleges and universities.