Life After Matric-your life options Welcome back to all our readers, both the one’s who are carrying on in grade 11 and grade 12 and also to our new readers just arrived in grade 10. The matric years. It has such a nice ring to it and we believe these are very important years as well. It is not just about academic excellence, but also about your future. The natural question to ask is then: “What after matric”. We have now so many options and we need to look at this in a different light, I believe. If we should have this notion that university is the only thing to go for after matric, we will have a problem. We might end up thinking ourselves as ‘not good enough’.
But is it the truth? Does it then mean that all the other jobs and educational offerings are second prize? If this is our perception, we set ourselves up for failure. Let us look at what Department of Higher Education is aiming at. Without having the fullest knowledge, I believe it has changed a lot. The TVET colleges (the FET colleges as they were known) are there to offer an education into careers where a university degree is not required. These offerings are far more varied and offer a lot more than an academic career. … and let us face it: not all of us are cut out for becoming academics. Let me quote from one of the government TVET’s (Ekurhuleni East College):