Educational Journey

Introduction

Educational journey is a lifetime journey. This is a journey that gives us knowledge this journey help us to think critically and independently it help us to be innovative. I interviewed 2 people about their educational journey. I interviewed Sandile Ngcobo who is an 18 year old boy. He is from Pinetown in a place called KwaNdengezi. He was raised by his mother who is a single parent. He’s the only boy in the family he is the last born. He come from a normal family not rich and not poor since he didn’t go to bed without food.

His mother was a domestic worker and he was able to provide for them from financially.The interview took place in the premises of Durban University of Technology at the Steve Biko campus in the S2 block.

I also interviewed Snenhlanhla Vundla from Hluhluwe in a village of Nhlwathi.She comes from a poor family of 7 members.They were raised by a his mother who was a single parent and her grandmother. They depended on Grant’s money and her grandmother’s pension.The interview took place at Ritson campus near the ritson hall. In the assignment I will talk about their experiences from primary school to university life and also state challenges they faced from their journey.

Sandile Ngcobo attended Mthala Junior primary school in Pinetown.He told me that in primary school teachers loved him because he uniform was clean and well dressed.He enjoyed meeting new people and making new friends.In terms of achievements he didn’t achieve anything because in Mthala JP school there was no awards or certificate given this high achievers, but when he was in grade 4 he got total in Natural science and it was announced in front of the class he was so excited.

He told me that the biggest challenge he faced in primary school was being bullyed.He was bullyed by one of his classmate.This guy used to tease him and take his pocket money.He started to tell his mother that he don’t want to go to school but his mother forced him.He didn’t tell his mother that he’s being bullyed at school .He thought that if he tells his mother to fight his own battle at school they will call him “mamas boy”. He encountered this problem by reporting this to the guy from next door who was doing grade 7 while he was doing grade 4 since he was the only boy in his family. This this guy from Next Door threatened this guy who was bullying him and that was such a relief.

Sinenhlanhla Vundla attended Macubuzela primary school which was the school with not enough resources.She was not a smart kid and she didn’t do school work properly she was playing a lot.She enjoyed making new friends in primary school.She was not teachers favourite student student because sometimes she didn’t write homework because when she got home she will play indigenous games and netball.Whe played for the netball school team.She didn’t achieve anything because she was not performing well academically.

In primary school school they were overcrowded in a class that the challenge he faced since the teachers couldn’t do one on one approach to every student and that affected her academic performance. Since she was playing net she ended up quitting it became she believed that there was favoritism.

Sandile said that he attended Ndengezi high school.He enjoyed high school because it’s the time where find your self and explore new things.That’s where you yo find what you like and what you don’t like.He developed love for cricket and he played it very well. When he was in grade 12 their school went to career exhibition and that’s where motivated to study hard .In the career exhibition he heard about analytical chemistry and he started loving chemistry. He this n decided to make analytical chemistry his first choice in the CAO application.

Peer pressure was one of the challenges he faced in high school. There was that pressure from his friends that he must find a girlfriend or else he will be called a coward. Lucky he got a girlfriend just to please his friends and fit in the group.When he was in grade 12 things was hard there was a lot of pressure coming from family members, friends even church members. That was hard since he had to study hard because he don’t want to disappoint them,he said that he even loss weight because of studying.

Sinenhlanhla vundla when she completed primary school she attended Hluhluwe primary school.When she got to high school she joined netball school team.She enjoyed so much playing netball since she was one of the best players in the team.She said that they attended netball cup competitions and they won trophies for the school.She didn’t achieve anything for the academic performance since she was not and of the highest achievers, but she got many medals for netball and she was so great full of that and also his parent were also proud.

There are many challenges she faced while she in high school .When she was in grade 10 she didn’t choose good friends .There was lot of negative peer pressure among the group.She said there was pressure that she have a boyfriend from the higher grade than her.She got a boyfriend who was doing grade 12 just to fit in the group. She got pregnant and she was so frustrated to herself that she had disappointed her mother by being pregnant at a very young age.She was the only one pregnant in the group when she was in grade 10.She so depressed and she felt so lonely. After she gave birth on October her mother took care of the baby so that she can continue with school. She didn’t obtain good marks and she got progressed and went to grade 11.In grade 11 she tried to work hard to improve her marks so that she can earn back her mother’s trust after disappointing her by getting pregnant.

One of the challenge she faced while playing netball she didn’t have shoes to play netball since his family had financial problems.Her mother told her to quit netball and focus on school work .She tried to quit netball but when they had to play somewhere, her teacher who was couching the netball used ask him to go and plays because she was one of the best player.She sometimes had to lie to his mother when he can late from the netball match and say she was studying in school .When she doing grade 12 there was to Much pressure that she must pass matrix well so that she must make his family proud.She was so happy when he finds that she got bachelor and her family was also happy.

Sandile Ngcobo said after all his hard work in matric coming to university was his wish. Luckily she got firm offer from Durban University of Technology in Diploma in Analytical Chemistry he was so excited. His wish was going to UKZN but in UKZN they given him firm offer lately he was already registered to DUT.The challenge he faced while getting registered was waiting in the long queue and he finds that so frustrating. Everything went well and he was successfully funded by NSFAS.It was difficult for him to adapt at The university life .He had to be independent no parents to guide him .He didn’t know how to cook and he had to cook for himself .

Sinenhlanhla Vundla said she has made her parents proud by being in the university.she is the first one in the family to study at the university. She wants to continue making her parents and baby girl proud by obtaining good marks at the university. She is doing pharmacy and her dream is to have her own pharmacy one day.she She said the university life is not the same as in high school ,at the university there more low of work and lectures do little work and more work is done by you.At the university there is no spoon feeding like in high school it’s hard in the university.She was also funded by NSFAS she is so greatfull to NSFAS because because of the financial problems her family had she wouldn’t able to register at DUT.Coming yo the university was like a transforming moment for her that she had to be independent and make good decisions for herself no one to guide her.she enjoyed meeting new people and making new friends at the university.

According to Boult and Cunnigham (1991) Many teenagers are getting pregnant at a very young age. Getting pregnant at a young age can have a negative impact on the child academic performance. Lot of mothers end up taking care of the Baby so that the teenager could continue with school and this could lead to the baby not given breast milk which is highly recommended by doctors. Getting pregnant while you are in school could be very frustrating to the teenager. Most teenagers when they are pregnant go through depression because the pregnancy was unplanned.Some teenagers end up not socialising with her friends and this so lonely.This could have affect the unborn baby and the mother negatively.When teenagers first experience sex some could having sex with multiple partners and this could put him at risk of having STDs and this could have negative effect on them.Teenagers end up seeking for love and then they finds it on boys that is one of the factor causing teenage pregnancy.

According to Duhrmester D (1990)In most cases people with the same age group as yours have a big impact on your behavior and also decision making.As teenagers grow they tend to listen to their friends opinion other than listening to their parents rules.There are different types of peer pressure there is positive peer pressure and negative peer pressure. Positive peer pressure is when your friends incourages each other in what is right.When your friends incourages each other in doing school work and loyal to each other that is positive peer pressure.Negative peer pressure cause stress to you because you are breaking the rules like when your friends forces you to do shop lifting, smoking cigarette and drinking alcohol.

According to Betts ,Julian and Jamie peer pressure can turn a good respecting child to a stubborn and bad behaving child. As a child you end up living a life to intertain your peer so that you can fit in the group. You end up doing what your friends thinks it’s right not what you want to do. Peer pressure can have an influence on the teenage dressing code and also change the way he/she speaks, some end up speaking slang language because of his/her peers.

According to Hirsch D poverty can make a child to not enjoy childhood. It can make a child feel worthless and hopeless. It can cause many chronical diseases and malnutrition. It is difficult for a student to study with an empty stomach. It cause you to not have potential to study and concentrate since the brain cells don’t become active when you are hungry. Lot of students drop out of school and look for a job so that they can fight poverty. Without any qualification it’s not easy to find a decent job and when they can’t find jobs they start to do criminal activities and they end up in jail. The chain of poverty continues to the next generation

According to Juvenon and Graham’s (2014) Most children are bullyed by their peers. Bullying is bad behavior done to another child. There is verbal bullying that’s when is spreading rumours about you or threatens to hurt you so badly. Physical bullying involves hurting someone’s body. Bullying cause a child to hate school and feel afraid. It makes you feel so lonely and very stressed. Some children end up committing suicide because of stress caused by being bullied. Many children don’t like reporting these issues because they will be called a Coward. This unaccepted behavior must stop since it could affect the child psychological.

I learned a lot from this assignment and it was very motivational. I had some challenges conducting the interview since it was my first time conducting an interview. During the interview hearing other people’s challenges was very emotional. I was also motivated about how they encountered those problems. I was not comfortable with speaking English but because of doing this assignment helped me to gain confidence to speak English fluently. I league learned that no matter was struggles you face in life you must not stop chasing your dream. Some challenges in life are not there to stop you from reaching your dreams but they are there to make you stronger and to motivate you. I was so nervous conducting the interview. At first doing the assignment it felt like it was just a waste of time but in the middle of the assignment it started to be more interesting and I enjoyed it. I learned that in life you must not make a decision because you want to please someone. I learned that I must always choose friends with potential and who are loyal.

The two interviewees comes from different families. One comes from a normal family that is not rich and not poor .The other one comes from a poor family. They both overcome many challenges through their educational journey but those challenges didn’t stop them. Education is the very important journey on everyone’s life.Education is the key to the successful life.It gives us knowledge to invert new things to make life more easier. They say knowledge is power. It gives us knowledge that cannot be taken away from you by any one.”

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