The new student is an emotionally and hormonally driven person, whose influence lies in his or her social-emotional status. They are driven more than ever by the influence of social and media with the increasing availability of information about technology. The new student faces a wider range of challenges than the student of ten years ago, from the technological boom to the availability of information from the cyber world and the education system. The question that comes to mind is: has the socio-economic world changed enough to allow the new student to adapt to the increasing standards of knowledge? With the education system under scrutiny, one matrix is ​​almost enough. It is a well-known fact in South African education that matric grades are increased to equalize the average, to the point where a student with forty percent gets a threshold of sixty percent. Is the education system responsible for the growing failure of final grades or is the responsibility also partly of the students? Many subjects have a minimum pass rate of 30%, meaning that students do not have 70% of the required knowledge as they continue through school levels of education (Barry, 2014). Which in later years could be detrimental to their life choices, especially where these basic skills are needed for life skills and further education. This in turn taught the new student that regardless of the grade, they will still pass. This lowers moral standards due to the known value of “for every action there is a consequence,” as the student did not face the consequence of failing and having to take responsibility for their work (Alfreds, 2014). In recent years the South African education system has published the C...... middle of paper ......2014, from the African Natinal Congress: http://www.anc.org.za/show.php? id =10693Nejman, C. (2003). The new meaning of educational change. Links: A Journal of National School Reform Faculty, 1-2.Nkabinde, Z. P. (2009). An analysis of educational challenges in New South Africa. Boston: University Press of South Africa. Robbertse, A. (2013, February 1). South African school struggle. Retrieved March 11, 2014, from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25IlIhuml3wVan der Berg, S. (2008). How effective are poor schools? Poverty and educational outcomes in South Africa. Center for European, Governance and Economic Development Research, 69, 1-40.Watson, O.E. (2013, December 8). Mandela, education and what didn't happen. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from International Policy Digest: http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2013/12/08/mandela-education-didnt-come/