After Matric » After Matriculating

For How Long are Parents Willing to Financially Assist their Kids?

I am a parent, a divorced mother, who is willing to financially assist my kids for as long as I am able to. But what if my kids still can’t find a job 2 or 3 years after matric or university? If I am still able to, will I still be willing to financially assist my kids when they should be earning their entire income on their own? I may not like it if I end up financially assisting my kids into their early twenties or beyond, but they’re my kids. I’m their mother, and as a mother I take on the responsibility of looking after them as best as I can, no matter how old they are. I took on that responsibilty the moment I fell pregnant with them. And … Read entire article »

Filed under: After Matriculating, Finding Work, Living

What I did After Matric

As South African matriculants write their 2011 matric exams I realise it is 25 years since I wrote my own matric exams. Getting old sucks. I often feel like I am still 17, and not 42. I wrote my matric exams at Hudson Park High School in East London in South Africa in 1986. I didn’t do so well – in fact I failed maths standard grade, by about 2%, but I passed matric. I was 17 when I matriculated from Hudson Park. In fact I still find it odd that even though I hated and failed maths, one of the first jobs I got was based on my doing well in a basic maths test. It was 1988 and I was sitting in a Transnet skills testing room with about 12 … Read entire article »

Filed under: After Matriculating

What can I do during a Gap Year After Matric?

Your parents have agreed that you can take a gap year after matric, or you’ve twisted their arm to allow you to take a gap year, but what are your plans for that gap year? What are you going to do during a gap year? What can you do during a gap year? Taking a gap year is often thought of as taking a year off after matric to “find yourself” before deciding on what you want to do with your life, or which career path to follow. You might like it to be that taking a year off after matric means you get a year in which you can simply relax and just do as you please before embarking on the “adventure of after matric life” (can’t blame you; who wouldn’t … Read entire article »

Filed under: After Matriculating