Letter to the Parent and Student
FORGET MATRIC RESULTS - HERE'S HOW TO PREPARE YOUR KIDS FOR JOBS THAT DON'T YET EXIST
Every January the Department of Basic Education publishes matric results for the prior year, with the main focus on the overall pass rate. For 2019 the pass rate was a record 81.3%. But this is highly misleading, as only half of the million kids who had entered the schooling system 12 years ago even got to write Matric exams. This means the true pass rate is actually 40.7%.
It gets worse if one digs deeper. A mere 7.7% of the original million kids ended up passing mathematics in matric, when the hurdle is a 40% pass mark. Let that sink in: only one in 13 kids that enter the schooling system will pass matric maths at 40%.
More than half the children now entering school will be expected to work in jobs that don’t exist. Apart from core skills like reading, writing, mathematics and science, students will need skills like critical thinking, creativity and problem-solving to contribute in their future jobs or start-ups.
Promote curiosity, initiative and entrepreneurial thinking, as these aren’t taught or measured in the classroom. Commit yourself to lifelong learning because many of the things learned are no longer relevant or true. Our real challenge is learning to learn and maybe even more importantly, learning to unlearn some old ideas.
Encourage matriculants to use many of the free online courses available to learn to code or to learn another international language. Also try your hand at any form of small business while you study or work, just to learn the basics about adding value and how to turn a profit. You have so little to lose by taking risks at this stage of your life and so much to gain by experimenting.
The world is changing faster and faster. Don’t get left behind by clinging to old models of education.
FULL Acknowledgement
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