Graeme Codrington, a South African author, futurist, strategy consultant, and founding director of a strategic insights firm has written an open letter to the class of 2016 that everyone needs to read.
Codrington, best known for his work on Generational Theory, penned the open letter to Facebook which has already seen over a thousand reactions.
It outlines the reality of Matric results and offers a word of advise for the class of 2016 (and anyone else that needs to hear it).
Read the full post below:
Today, South African school leavers are starting to get their results (private school today, government schools early next week). Parents who’s children have excelled academically are posting congratulatory messages – I am sure I will do the same for my daughter this time next year.
But there’s a danger in doing this, if we’re using these marks as a proxy for the success of the education our children have experienced over the past two decades.
Education is what remains when you have forgotten the content you learnt at school. And that happens pretty quickly actually. It’s sobering to note that the only thing your Matric results correlate with are your first year university results. After that there is no statistical correlation with anything. This is proven in study after study.
Your Matric results have no bearing on what line of work you end up in, how well you do in university (after first year), who you marry, how well you’ll parent, what type of person you are or how happy you’ll be in life.
So, to all Matrics who have completed their secondary phase of education: I hope you were educated. I hope your character has been well formed.
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Whatever marks you got, I hope they open the door you wanted to be opened and I hope you walk through it confidently and excitedly. And if the door you want is closed, well, find another way or kick it down anyway – there’s a life lesson right there.
And regardless of your marks, I hope you know that you are loved and cherished for WHO you ARE rather than what you DO.
Go get the world. It’s waiting for you and your friends to do something amazing. These results are not the final adjudicator of your worth.
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