The new learner is an emotionally and hormonally motivated person, whose influence lies in their socio-emotional status. They are more motivated than ever by the influence of social and media networks with the increased availability of information on technology. The new learner faces a wider range of challenges than a decade 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 whether the socio-economic world has changed enough for the new learner to adapt to the increasing standards of knowledge? With the education system under surveillance, a matric is almost enough. It is a well-known fact in South African education that matric grades are increased in order to equalize the average, to the point that a learner with forty percent gets a sixty percent mark. Is the education system to blame for the increasing failure of final grades or is it partly the responsibility of learners? Many subjects have a minimum pass rate of thirty percent, meaning that learners do not possess seventy percent of the required knowledge as they progress through the levels of school education (Barry, 2014). Which later could be detrimental to their life choices, especially when these basic skills are needed to acquire life skills and further their education. This in turn taught the new learner that no matter the grade, they will always pass. This lowers the moral standards of the well-known value that "for every action there is a consequence", since the learner did not have to face the consequences of failure and have to take responsibility for his or her own work (Alfreds, 2014). In recent years, the South African education system has published the C...... middle of document ......2014, of the African National Congress: http://www.anc.org.za/show. php?id=10693Nejman, C. (2003). The new meaning of educational change. Connections: A Journal of National Faculty of School Reform, 1-2.Nkabinde, ZP (2009). An analysis of educational challenges in the new South Africa. Boston: University Press of South Africa. Robbertse, A. (February 1, 2013). South African school fight. 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 Research on Governance and Economic Development, 69, 1-40. Watson, OE (December 8, 2013). 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/