es were only at 2 percent (Richards & Waterbury, 1990).
During the first five-year development plan in Saudi Arabia, school enrollment increased 11 percent, while 257 new schools were opened for boys and 136 for girls. This continued to be a focus of the development plans for the next four cycles, with the result that by the end of the fifth development plan, it is anticipated that illiteracy among the young will be almost eliminated and enrollment of those eligible for schooling, boys and girls, will be at almost 100 percent (Development Plan, 1970; Fifth Development Plan, 1990).
Thus, Saudi Arabia has rapidly accomplished the basic education of its society by focusing much of its oil wealth on improving the socioeconomic environment in the country. The educational system was, and continues, to be a major focus of this effort.
The fundamental problem for schools is to determine how best to fulfill their mission of educating a diversity of students so that they meet certain standards of achievement in learning basic skills.
In traditional formulations, those basic skills are reading, writing, and arithmetic. These are considered the cornerstone upon which the educated society depends. If students do not learn how to read and write and perform basic math, it is assumed that they will be unable to perform their basic functions as parents, as workers, and as citizens.
Mathematics is somewhat out of place in this grouping. While children often begin to learn reading in their home environment, arithmetic is not something that most parents feel comfortable teaching. Thus, more than reading, education in mathematics depends largely upon the school system and the individual classroom teachers.
Interestingly enough, however, the home environment can influence achievement in arithmetic, as it can many other types of attainment. A study by Keough (1960) of 8th grade students indicated that there was a positive relationshi...