Going to UNIVERSITY⁉️⁉️

Students need to understand a couple of things. Firstly during apartheid it was not free. You paid. If you could not afford it you took out a student loan. That is what my brother did. He had to pay back 40 or  50 thousand 30 years ago, once he got a job. 

Admission to university was a privilege earned. 

You submitted your marks and your portfolio and the university decided if you were good enough to admit. 

My brothers marks were average. He obviously got matriculation exemption but he was admitted because of his portfolio. Which is drawings, art work,etc.

He then proceeded to work his ass off for 7 years while trying to dodge conscription. He cycled to UCT from Muizenberg. All I can remember is him at times smelling of sweat. Waking him up when I went to bed. Having to pull the duvet off him to get him up or spraying water on him. From a distance of course. That is the level of commitment that is needed. University is a privilege not a right. You have to earn that place by studying hard at school and getting top marks or be particularly gifted at something. I was gifted at nothing. My marks were average and we didn't have money. Getting a loan was not warranted. I wouldn't have gotten one as my marks were not good enough. I went to nurse. Students are going to university with low marks and a poor work ethic doing degrees that are not needed or wanted by the country. They then get poor marks for the degree. They then enter the workforce expecting to get a job. Uhhh no. We have schools that are now going to allow a 30% pass mark. You have maths that allows you to pass while working out the square meterage of tiling a floor. You were fairly assured a place at university if you were top in pure maths and science. Home economics and business didn't cut it. On the other side you get students who are not good at studying but more hands on. Go and look for a trade. Have you checked what a plumber or electrician costs?? A good tiler is worth his weight in gold. Computers are another area that is always growing along with cloud apps. 

Schools need to raise the standard of education across the board as all they have been forced to do is dumb the system down. So the system suits the students with the poorest marks. This ensures that the students that come out of school are already at a disadvantage. University is for the best of the best. If you have to work twice as hard at school and look for extra work and reading, then that's what you do. Your education and your habits start at junior school and parents need to reinforce good working habits in the student. The teachers in some schools are a disgrace and there is a lack of good ethics. Schools need inspectors and training facilities need to up their standards drastically for students to succeed. 

Parents and or students need to look at what jobs are the most saught after and direct their efforts towards that job from young. If you have the subjects you can go in any direction. Life is about work and work only comes with good efforts at school. 

Every prize giving I saw the same students getting the maths and science prizes. The arts and music prizes. The badges and the trophies. The top sports people were envariably head boy or head girl. You achieve when you are an all rounder. 

If you think you can run around with your friends doing shit after school or go out every weekend to clubs and bars.. Then don't even bother thinking about university. You might get there but you won't make it and if you do, you will just be average. Business looks at the top students at schools. They mark them for hire then already. Some will pay university fees, give bursaries. Those students are ready for success and deserve it. They get it as well. Don't bother telling me that these students are mostly white. They aren't. We see it when the top 20 come out each year and I saw it at my sons school. It was 2 out of 20. 

Half the students drop out of university in the first year and then another lot after second. It takes commitment and everything you have. 

Success is up to you. You need to decide how you want your life to be. 

  NATIONAL / EDUCATIONSA students not prepared for tertiary education, says study

Students are ill prepared for university

07 AUGUST 2017 - 17:09 SUTHENTIRA GOVENDER

Picture: THINKSTOCK

Not being happy with your study choice and failing schools standards are some of the reasons South African students have given for feeling unprepared for tertiary education, according to a new study

This revelation is contained in the latest PPS Student Confidence Index survey conducted among nearly 2‚500 students in fourth year and above‚ pursuing qualifications in engineering‚ medicine‚ law or accounting.

According to the survey‚ less than half those surveyed felt prepared for the transition from school to higher education institutions. This represents an 8% decline from 2016‚ and marks the first time in three years — since the survey was started — that the percentage has dropped below 50%.

Motshabi Nomvete‚ PPS spokeperson, believes the implications "of this lack of preparedness is no doubt contributing to the fact that 47.9% of university students do not complete their degrees as determined in the latest [2015] report by the Department of Higher Education".

She said there needs to be more engagement by the corporate sector and professional bodies with government on school curriculums to ensure the divide between secondary and tertiary education levels is reduced.

Prof Labby Ramrathan‚ based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s school of education‚ said the school-to-university transition "is a complex phenomenon that has many facets". "The emotional facet of being prepared or not for this transition cannot be used as any substantive argument for the high rate of dropout from universities."

Ramrathan said the drop in percentage of students being ready for tertiary education "is related to the confidence in being able to access their study programme of choice and this is, I believe‚ what may have resulted in their lower levels of confidence in transition from school to university".

"There are a number of studies that have pointed to‚ among other [things]‚ being admitted to programmes that were not the student’s first choice as a reason for high levels of student dropout. Students have the potential to succeed‚ but there are several factors, including institutional‚ personal and academic‚ that contribute to the high rate of student dropout‚" added Ramrathan.

Another education expert‚ Prof Wayne Hugo‚ said: "At the heart of it lies the following problem: school standards are struggling to keep up to scratch for university level study."

"Universities accept students who they know are not university-ready because they know the school system is struggling and so they put in all sorts of foundation and assistance programmes that help the student," he said. "By the time it comes to actually graduate‚ the openness and support has come to an end and the student must display full university standards. By then‚ some of our students have caught up ... but those who have not experience a rude awakening."

Hugo added that the Fees Must Fall campaign had "a terrible physical and psychological toll on students and lecturers alike‚ resulting in an increased divide and less energy and commitment".